We are such fickle people! Our emotions and actions flop back and forth like a rag doll. That’s all humankind knows, so when someone comes to the Lord, they can barely understand His rock solidness. The Lord our God is unchanging and unfailing in His love for us; and we all struggle to understand that. So, we need to get a revelation…we can’t understand that kind of love on our own, for only God’s flow in us can help us get there and truly depend on Him. God’s word is true and in Hebrews 13:8, He tells us that He is the same yesterday, today and forever. Just try it; you’ll like it! Endure the fire—it’s producing pure gold!
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Ever go to a loud concert and try to talk to someone? The noise drowns out the sound of your friend’s voice and you can’t hear a word that is said. You either have to leave the noise area or turn the noise off. That’s simple and understood by anyone with half a brain. So why is it that you don’t carry that principle over to your walk in the Lord? Want to hear God’s voice more clearly…then leave the noise area or turn it off! If you had a meeting with a prospective employer for the job of your dreams, would you show up with headphones on and your IPod blaring? I doubt it! So why do you show up in the presence of God with all the “noise” of your world blaring in your ears? Shut it off. And I do know that is hard to do because I struggle with it all the time. But what treasures in the Lord you will receive if you start each day quietly sitting in His presence, waiting on Him before you jump into the work of the day - waiting before working, actually trusting God to give the time back to your day that you have given Him. Now that is spiritual strengthening of great magnitude. Make the devil shake in his boots at the thought! Endure the fire—it’s producing pure gold! In Colossians 4:2 (NIV) we read, "Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful." And in 1 Thessalonians 5:18 (NKJV), "In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." Ah…sounds so peaceful an existence! Just get up each day and float through it with the Lord. It’s not fantasy, folks, for it can be done. I struggle, though, because I tend to bolt into each day like a racehorse out of the gate! Devotions, writing, and then helping others, studies, phone calls, visitations, meetings, sermon prep, coordination of events, church services and then the common tasks of a personal life. The drum beats on and on, faster each day. God knows that most of our lives run along that course and that is why He gives us the rich wisdom in the Scriptures. For all the racehorses out there, you need to buckle down at slowing down! Rest in the presence of the Lord, all day, every day. It doesn’t mean you work less, it just means you work more efficiently and you’ll encompass the priorities set by God and not by those around you. By remaining in the awareness of God’s presence and thanking Him for your blessings, you’ll bring joy and gladness to your heart. That helps push back the negative thoughts and disappointments inherent in the rush of daily life. I don’t mean that you walk around in robes all day humming repetitive sounds. No, you’ll be able to walk with vigor and purpose by letting God take charge of your day. We racehorses struggle in taking one step at a time, but it really is the best course of action to win the race and get across the finish line. Slow down or go down…your choice! Endure the fire…it’s producing pure gold! Is God the “lover of your soul”? Lately, it seems I have been so much more aware of God’s love. We hear of it all the time in church, read it in Scripture and sing it in song—but do we really know that God loves us and do we really love Him back? Well, first of all, the way you “love” God is to obey Him. Heaven is His home and earth is His footstool, what are you going to do, buy Him a Rolex? Second, God’s love is the most powerful force in the universe. It is unstoppable. Whether you love Him or not, He still loves you. But whether you get to be with Him for eternity, well…that’s up to you. God may love you in spite of yourself but nothing unclean can be in His presence. Your spiritual filth comes from Adam’s disobedience to God, but your spiritual cleansing comes from Jesus who took the “capital punishment” for your crimes. He died for you, for crying out loud. Don’t you get it? His love is so great, He left perfect heaven to come to unclean earth to rescue us and redeem us back to Himself. His love never fails; ours does daily. But His unfailing love is there until we draw our last breath. You choose what you want to do and you’ll die the same dirty rag you were born and you will go where all filth goes—hell eternal! You submit your dead, dirty soul to Him, ask forgiveness and start your journey with Him and He will cleanse you and prepare you for where all cleanliness goes—heaven eternal! You can continue to call that religious ideation, or a myth or some nutty story or you can buckle down and seek for the truth. You seek God—you’ll find God, and this current epoch of time, when you seek God, you’ll run into Jesus. No lie—enjoying the presence of God in unrestricted ecstasy and joy is God’s absolute guarantee IF you bind yourself to Him while you still draw breath here. 1 Corinthians 13:12 and Ephesians 3:16-19…check it out. Endure the fire…it’s producing pure gold! I remember growing up in a large family. Nine of us kids and my mom and dad. Eleven for dinner every night would seem impossible today, but somehow it wasn’t back then. We would all pitch in, each helping to do a small part of a big job. In that process, we learned a lot. A lot about cooking, a lot about helping, cooperation, leadership and teaching. My mom would show us older kids some of the finer points and special touches needed in meal preparation and in turn, we would pass that on to the younger ones as we worked to prepare the evening meal. Those nuggets of wisdom passed on down made a big difference in the smoothness of the whole operation. And so it is with the Lord. He gives us His nuggets of wisdom, not as “pounding us down” rules, but rather as jewels and treasures to make the journey less harsh. A couple of those “nuggets” come to mind. God tells us to practice trust and thankfulness so as to help us get through our 24/7 existence. Trusting Him will protect you from the “worry bug” and cut back on obsessing about the cares of the world. And thankfulness, that “attitude of gratitude”, will help keep you from criticizing and complaining about the details of your day. Practice, practice, practice—that’s how it’s done. Looking to the Lord through every thought, word and deed is a choice you can make all throughout your day. Push those worries and complaints to the edges of your head and let the Lord be right smack in the middle. Focus on Him and the trust and thankfulness will be yours in abundance. Build your day on 1 Peter 5:7, “…cast all your anxiety upon Him, because He cares for you.” Endure the fire…it’s producing pure gold! A month ago, I was in a car accident. My vehicle was totaled, bringing on voluminous amounts of paperwork, phone calls and the need for some moolah for a vehicle replacement. In addition to the severe chest contusion from the collision, my head was spinning with unresolved issues. The pain and the problems were destroying my rest, both physically and spiritually. But God saw my plight and brought some powerful peace through a phone call from one of my sisters. She asked if I had read the devotional for February 16 in Jesus Calling by Sarah Young. I had not but quickly sought it out after our conversation. God knows how to hit the nail on the head. In that entry, it reminded me that God was saying to thank Him for the conditions that come upon you that force you to be still before Him! In the devotional reading, I was further reminded that some of God’s greatest works have been accomplished from sick beds and prison cells! What a reminder for us all. So when your circumstances require a hiatus from your normal routine and the activity of the world…then rejoice! Spend those quiet hours basking in the presence of the Lord. Your usual day is full of frantic activity, appointments and work. Consider your calamity a needed break that you would not ordinarily take! Soak in the Lord and trust Him to lead you through a troubling time, all the while growing in spiritual strength, trusting, loving and praising God. Endure the fire…it’s producing pure gold! PARRR-TAAY! Party time! That seems to be the mindset of many in today’s world. It seems that so many more of our young people are looking through a set of glasses that portrays the whole purpose of life as one of having fun and living at the height of comfort. “Eat, drink and be merry”, is the mantra. But if they ever woke up and looked around themselves, that viewpoint might starkly change because our world is full of suffering people. Could you really continue to gorge yourself at a buffet if you actually saw an entire village in Africa on the verge of death from starvation? Someone who’s convinced that the only purpose in life is enjoyment and satisfaction is deaf to the desperation around them. Awareness of this desperation can do many things. It can turn an individual even more into himself, and thus shunning the truth of human suffering; or it could turn someone away from God upon the discovery of this misery; or, as is hoped, it could be the heart-opener that drives them to God. In driving people to God, they might then understand the broader view from God’s perspective. When suffering occurs, it doesn’t mean God doesn’t care or has turned away from the situation. The frailty of humanity most always cries out at times of suffering, asking the ever present, “why?” Whereas an omniscient God looks at suffering asking, “To what end?” Our journey on earth is not just for our comfort, but more for our character! The journey is just that…a journey. One in which we learn through the indwelling Spirit of God how to be more like God and not like man. In God’s eyes, your eternal damnation to hell is worse than some pain and suffering you may experience here. If God can rescue you from Satan and his snares, He’ll do it, even if it half kills you! So get a grip, look to the Lord and be blessed that His plan, no matter what it entails, is for your good and not for your calamity, to give you a future and a hope. What a God! Endure the fire…it’s producing pure gold! |
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