It’s All His
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Psalm 24
1 The earth is the LORD’s and the fullness thereof,
the world and those who dwell therein
I’ve been meditating on this passage of scripture last night and this morning. If we don’t meditate on the scripture, we can lose a lot of meaning from God’s Word.
We say “Yeah, the Earth is the Lord’s. That’s kind of a given isn’t it”? Not really.
If we start looking at our lives in relation to the Gospel, we don’t live like the Earth is the Lord’s. If we are honest, we live like our lives our ours to choose to live how we want, we spend our money like it is ours and we can do what we want, and we pick scripture that we choose to follow and others we choose to “not listen to”.
That phrase “and the fullness thereof ” accentuates the fact that everything truly belongs to Him and Him alone. From the oxygen you breath, your family, to the things that you worship and give a greater place to than Him. It is all His!
Do we (includes me) act like our lives are truly His? Do our actions reflect a life submitted to Christ? I’m sure everyone can say there is something they are struggling to trust and give God control of. This is why we need His grace so terribly. Our need reflects our inadequacy. Our struggle for control reveals our powerlessness.
Jesus does allow us to experience failure, loss, hunger, frustration, poverty. It is not out of anger that God does this because has already paid the full penalty for our sins and transgressions. He took the consequenses for disobedience, the shame of our failures, and the punishment for our transgressions. What didn’t God do that allows me to go through these things? Why do we suffer? We suffer to bring Him glory, that in these weak, disobedient, wicked shells that will one day pass away, His glory can be made manifest. I am no longer being punished for my sin. I may be disciplined, but I am never rejected. We are His children, and the Father disciplines those He loves. I may go through difficult times but the Father will never leave or forsake us. EVER. We experience suffering because our hearts wander, we lack trust in Him, or we try to find our needs met outside of Christ.
Why do we struggle financially? It is because we do not trust God to provide so we strive, stress, and look for any other way under the sun to find security and sustenance. He will allow us to continue to struggle financially not as a punishment, but that we may through that suffering come to the understanding that He is our provider. Why do people struggle to find peace and turn to drugs and alcohol? It is because they do not find peace in the cross of Christ and do not allow God to bear the weight of our cares. God allows us to experience this lack of peace till we understand where we are to find true peace.
The Lord contends for our hearts. His Spirit works in our lives to make us aware of our need for Him, and reminds us that everything belongs to Him.
Kevin
Walking in Truth
My writing has been a lot more sporadic lately. I’ve gone weeks without a post. For those of you who keep checking in, I am so very grateful for it. There is definitely a method to my madness which I kind of hope to explain. Not to explain why in an apologetic slant, but in a way to make you step back and think about motives and condition of the heart.
God has revealed Himself to me in so many ways I don’t know if this blog could hold them all. He is so good and the depth and breadth of who is cannot be measured. He has opened up scriptures to me and shown me that there is so much depth to them that you could spend a lifetime reading them and still find something new that you have never seen before.
Something He has shown me is that some truths can’t be explained or taught, some have to be walked out. We can speak the truth, but are we walking in the truth? Are we walking in the truth that God has revealed to us or are we learning about the truth for sake of saying we know it?
James 1:26-27 (English Standard Version)
26)If anyone thinks he is religious and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person’s religion is worthless. 27) Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.
I think we can be a lot better at telling people how to live than living the Truth and we need to shut up and live it. That’s what I get from this scripture. That’s my message to you and me.
Some truth is meant to be revealed, some is meant to be walked through, wrestled with, and toiled in.
Are you walking in the Truth?
Kevin
What You Need
I was praying in my car on the way to work this morning, and I was asking God to help me with some things that I felt like I need help with. He began to speak to me and led me to Acts 3:
Acts 3
1)Now Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. 2)And a man lame from birth was being carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple that is called the Beautiful Gate to ask alms of those entering the temple. 3Seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, he asked to receive alms. 4)And Peter directed his gaze at him, as did John, and said, “Look at us.” 5)And he fixed his attention on them, expecting to receive something from them. 6)But Peter said, “I have no silver and gold, but what I do have I give to you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk!” 7And he took him by the right hand and raised him up, and immediately his feet and ankles were made strong. 8)And leaping up he stood and began to walk, and entered the temple with them, walking and leaping and praising God. 9)And all the people saw him walking and praising God, 10)and recognized him as the one who sat at the Beautiful Gate of the temple, asking for alms. And they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
The beggar asked for what he felt like he needed. God gave him what he truly needed. There could be a countless amount of reasons that God decided to heal him at that moment but God gave him what he needed; the ability to walk. Why at this point? That’s something we can all ask Him one day.
After I pondered this story, He said: “My grace is sufficient. My mercies are new every morning. I will give you what you need when you need it.”
I think that sometimes if we get what we need too soon, it can easily turn to pride.
I look back on how many times I have asked God to back me up on what I thought was what I was supposed to do. I have fallen on my face so many times and I blamed God and would say “I thought you told me to do this! Why are you doing this to me?!” He was giving me what I needed. I needed to fall on my face. I needed to humbled. I needed to realize that God truly gives us what we need, when we need it, and how we need it. We must accept Him as our Lord and not just our Savior and truly put our trust in Him that no matter what, He provides everything we truly need.
Trust Him today. His grace is sufficient. He makes all things work together for your good.
Kevin
Do You Stink?
Florida in the summer can be the next hottest place to hell itself. If you are outside for a minute, you will sweat. That’s just the way it is. On Sundays, Journey Church has an incredible team of volunteers that no matter what the weather conditions are, they are out serving with an incredible attitude! When our outside volunteers come in, you can sometimes visibly tell they have been outside. I am glad to say that I have never actually smelled any of our volunteers after serving outside. It must be something supernatural, praise God! It’s not a glamourous job at times, but God is glorified by their smiling faces and warm welcome.
It is easy to tell that our Guest Services folks are out doing something. What I want to know: “Is it evident that you are working hard to glorify God and advance His kingdom?” “Do you stink?” Check out this scripture:
Jeremiah 48:10-11
10) “Cursed is he who does the work of the LORD with slackness, and cursed is he who keeps back his sword from bloodshed.
11)“Moab has been at ease from his youth
and has settled on his dregs;
he has not been emptied from vessel to vessel,
nor has he gone into exile;
so his taste remains in him,
and his scent is not changed.
Let’s break these scriptures down for a sec. This is an exerpt of a prophesy that God gave the nation of Moab to Jeremiah. If you go back to the book of Joshua, God gave the Israelites a mandate to go into the land of Canaan and wipe out every man, woman, and child. At the end of the book of Joshua, we see that Israel did not obey God and wipe out all the nations that they were ordered to, and God told Israel that these nations would be a constant source of problems for them. That was certainly the case. One thing that really stands out from scripture is that Moab never did anything without help. They were weak. When other nations would come into the land they would quickly make treaties, become slaves, whatever they had to do so they would not be led away into captivity. They would rarely fight. They even hired a Babylonian witchdoctor to curse Israel cause they didn’t want to do it themselves! They were a crafty people . God was speaking to Moab because they were cowards and slackers, so much so, that they didn’t even break a sweat to do anything!
Are you one of those people that will do the things that will get you the most attention, but when it comes to doing something “behind the scenes” it’s “below you?” You will preach, but you won’t serve coffee? You will teach a class, but won’t visit a brother or sister in the hospital? Then you have the “Moab mindset”. You don’t have the heart of Christ, who washed His disciple’s feet. The heart of the one who said “if you have done it unto the least of these, you have done it unto me.”
Or are you the slacker? Do you serve God half-hearted? Do you depend on someone else to come to church fired up on Sunday to help get you kick-started? Do you need to be constantly “encouraged” to do the things you are supposed to? Do you have faith the size of a mustard seed? Can you stand on your own two feet or does every storm that comes against you beat you down?
It’s time to roll up the sleeves and get dirty, bloody, and yes, smelly. It’s time to fight, bite, scratch, love, serve, encourage for His glory and His kingdom. If Christ isn’t worth it, then you need to repent and ask Jesus to come into your heart and reveal Himself to you. Let’s do whatever needs to be done to make His name great! Let’s repent of our apathy and ask God to wake up and revive our sleeping spirits, that we may be known as His in word and deed!!
Kevin
After His Heart
I have heard a lot of messages over the past several months, on how God is after our hearts. I know this is true in my own life cause He has dealt with me on a lot of things that He wants to change in me. He is aggressively after the hearts of those He has chosen to call His children. His grace is irresistable and is love knows no boundry! He is not interested in your participation in religion, your “good” deeds, or how many scriptures you have memorized. He is after a heart that is fully His. He will attack every idol in our lives, everything that you hold higher in importance than Him.
Knowing that our Lord is in pursuit of our hearts, my question is are you pursuing after His heart?
Deuteronomy 4:29 (English Standard Version)
29) But from there you will seek the LORD your God and you will find him, if you search after him with all your heart and with all your soul.
2 Kings 23:25
25) Before him there was no king like him, who turned to the LORD with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his might, according to all the Law of Moses, nor did any like him arise after him.
God wants to be pursued. God wants to be sought after. He wants us to seek His face and not just His hand (yeah, I know it’s an overused phrase, but it’s true). He wants us to have relationship with Him! I wonder how much sooner those things we struggle with in our lives would be a thing of the past if we would run to Him as He is pursuing us? I wonder if we struggle with things for such a long time is because we are trying to “hide” those things from Him, just like Adam and Eve tried to hide from God in the garden. At some point, everything must bow it’s knee in submission to Jesus Christ.
Isaiah 45:23
23) By myself I have sworn;
from my mouth has gone out in righteousness
a word that shall not return:
’To me every knee shall bow,
every tongue shall swear allegiance.’
This scripture is not just talking about judgement day. Everything that has a place in our lives greater than Christ must be submitted to Him. There is no other god before Him. What an act of love to actively lay down those things that stand between us and Him!
I know that some things are easier than others. There are some things that we can’t do in our strength. We need Him. It is His power that gives us the power to change!
Philippians 2:12-13
12Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 13for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure
Let’s not just be pursued by God, but let us pursue Him with the same passion that He is pursuing us until all things are subjected to Him. He truly is all and holds, everything we need.
Kevin
That I May Decrease….
I was reading this passage from a book called “The Inner life” by Francois Fenelon (1651-1715) and it really ministered to me this morning. I thought about how we try so hard to “protect” ourselves from God. We have such a difficult time embracing the change that God wants to do in our hearts. We are afraid of correction, accountability, and exposure. It’s almost like we are afraid that if we cooperate with these things, we will lose our own identity, our individuality,and our own life. This could not be closer to the truth! This is why Christ died, so we can have His life! The scriptures say that anyone who tries to save their life will lose it, but anyone who loses their life for my name sake will find it! (Matt(16:25) Check out what Fenelon had to say:
Let us compare our lives with that of Jesus Christ, reflecting that he was the Master and that we are the servants; that He was all-powerful, and that we are but weakness; that he was abased and that we are exalted. Let us so constantly bear our wretchedness in mind, that we may have nothing but contempt for ourselves. With what face can we despise others, and dwell upon their faults, when we ourselves are filled with nothing else? Let us begin to walk in the path which our Saviour has marked out, for it is the only one that can lead us to Him.
And how can we expect to find Jesus if we do not seek Him in the states of his earthly life, in loneliness and silence, in poverty and suffering, in persecution and contempt, in annihilation and the cross? The saints find him in heaven, in the splendors of glory and in unspeakable pleasures; but it is only after having dwelt with Him on earth in reproaches, in pain and in humiliation. To be a Christian is to be an imitator of Jesus Christ. In what can we imitate Him if not in his humiliation? Nothing else can bring us near to Him. We may adore him as Omnipotent, fear him as just, love him with all our heart as good and merciful,—but we can only imitate him as humble, submissive, poor and despised.
Let us not imagine that we can do this by our own efforts; everything that is within is opposed to it; but we may rejoice in the presence of God. Jesus has chosen to be made partaker of all our weaknesses; He is a compassionate high-priest who has voluntarily submitted to be tempted in all points like as we are; let us, then, have all our strength in Him who became weak that he might strengthen us; let us enrich ourselves out of his poverty, confidently exclaiming, I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me. (Philip. iv. 13.)
Let me follow in thy footsteps, O Jesus! I would imitate Thee, but cannot without the aid of thy grace! O humble and lowly Saviour, grant me the knowledge of the true Christian, and that I may willingly despise myself; let me learn the lesson, so incomprehensible to the mind of man, that I must die to myself by an abandonment that shall produce true humility.
May I decrease so you can increase in me God.
Kevin
What I am Learning From Mountain Biking III
3) Trust Your Equipment- You can have the best bike with all the best parts money can buy, but if you don’t trust that it will do what it was designed to do it is just a useless and worthless piece of metal, rubber, and plastic.
We live in a time in history when we have some of the greatest biblical minds alive to learn, listen, and glean from. Revelation is flowing like a river, revealing a simplicity and a depth to the scripture we have not seen before. We have resources of early church fathers that we can glean from as well. Lifetimes of biblical and life experiences at our fingertips or a click of a mouse.
All this knowledge, and we still have people who have been in church for years that their lives are the same as the day they accepted Christ as their Savior. Please notice I did not say “Lord and Savior”. When we make someone or some people or something our lord, we submit to them. We are entrusting our well-being, safety, security, and our future to someone or a group of people that we believe has the ability to do be entrusted with these things. We believe that they have our best interests at heart and will act in those best interests.
In the words of Billy Joel: “It’s a matter of trust”. In relating God to the bike, we look at the bike, we study the bike, we even say how good the bike is, but we won’t get on the bike and see what the bike can do. We don’t trust it to give us the results we say we say with our mouths it can produce. We can trust He has saved our soul, but we can’t trust that He can take care of us. He provided for others, but He can’t provide for us. We can’t trust that God truly has our best interests, therefore He is not the Lord of our lives!
I don’t have a pat religious cliched answer on how to trust God. It’s a matter of trust. It’s a matter between you and God. What is He asking you to do that you can’t trust Him to take care of? Are you afraid of making a mistake? Your listening to a guy who has made his share and more. God has brought me to a point that it is more painful to think of what I might be able to do and not do it, then to go for it and make a mistake. Put your trust in Him. Let Him be the Lord of your life and see what He will do.
His Love Never Fails
Kevin
What I am Learning From Mountain Biking I
I have been mountain biking for a couple months now. It has been so much fun! It has been challenging both physically and mentally (mostly physically, Lol!). I have learned a lot about myself since I’ve started. I thought I would share a few thoughts and principles we can all apply to our lives:
1) You have to commit to take on and face whatever the trail throws at you. Most trails are one way, which means you cannot turn around and go back. You have to commit to go forward, no matter what. You have to purpose in your mind that no matter what you face, you are going forward. You will face rough terrain. You will face roots, sand, rocks, drops just like in life. Noone is going to go out and pave the trail you are on and make it smooth. The Bible says you will face tough situations and difficult people. It’s just the way it is. We must commit to move forward in whatever God has called us to be.
Will we be scared? Maybe. There’s a good possibility you could get hurt, possibly pretty bad. How many of us sit at the entrance of the trail that God has designed for our lives and look into the trees scared of what we might face and stay at the entrance. You might wonder what the payoff of going down your trail is and you are frozen in fear of what could happen.
Something I have been learning is that a healthy dose of fear is good. Sometimes we just have to do something just to see if we can do it. Check out what Sampson did:
Judges 16:2
The Gazites were told, “Samson has come here.” And they surrounded the place and set an ambush for him all night at the gate of the city. They kept quiet all night, saying, “Let us wait till the light of the morning; then we will kill him.” 3)But Samson lay till midnight, and at midnight he arose and took hold of the doors of the gate of the city and the two posts, and pulled them up, bar and all, and put them on his shoulders and carried them to the top of the hill that is in front of Hebron.
He could have snuck out. That would have been a lot safer approach than to rip the gates of the city and carry them 30-40 miles up a 2000 foot mountain. What if he wasn’t strong enough? What if he failed? I don’t see Samson as the most cerebral person. He committed himself to do it and God gave him the strength. We talk ourselves out of lot of things.
What could you do if you were fully committed to God, and His purpose for your life and was willing to do whatever He asked you to do? What couldn’t we do?
Kevin
Sovereignty of God
I was reading a posting from John Piper today titled “Don’t Waste Your Cancer” . It just blows my mind the trust that he has in Christ despite the fact that he has cancer, and that God allowed him to have it for God’s purpose and plan.
My brain has a hard time wrapping itself around that thought sometimes. I was raised with the Good God Bad Devil point of view. God doesn’t cause bad things to happen, that’s just Satan. When my mother was diagnosed with cancer, everyone said it was the devil trying to “take her out”.
I went along with this line of thinking till I had prayed all I could pray, I did all I knew to do, I rebuked satan as many times as I could, and she still was not getting better. There was a point where I had to concede that God had no plan on saving her life and for some reason, He saw it fit that she had to go through what she went through. It was ultimately His will!
We have been fed a load of crap from men with good intentions that have no clue (not that I have the corner on God or claim to understand His ways) about what His sovereign will is all about. Jesus came to save us, He did not necessarily come to give you lots of money, (not that that is a bad thing) or give you a life without trials and tribulation. He did not come to make “everything better”. He came because you were lost in your sin. You needed a Savior. Jesus came and suffered. He even told His disciples that they would face various trials and tribulations. He said you will suffer for My namesake. You will be beaten, persecuted, mocked, and killed. He also said that He would be with us as we are in the middle of these things. A far cry from the your blessing is right around the corner teaching that has gone around. Do I think He wants to bless us? Listen, He has already blessed us with the most precious gift. He has bestowed on us every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places. The work is done. You are blessed! You are His child! He is your Father! Your fate is eternally sealed with Him!
Obey His Word and you will be blessed, but don’t obey to be blessed. You may need to read that a couple more times to get it.
Ultimately, I chose to believe that she was predestined to go through the things she went through to show the unbelieving that in the midst of suffering and pain, one’s faith can be just as strong, if not stronger then when everything is hunky dory. She was a shining example of faith in the face of impossible odds.
Let us worship Him with our lives as we conform ourselves to His will and His plan for our lives. Let us not waste our lives pursuing blessings, but let us allow Him to shine within us as we obey Him, no matter where we are, or what place He has put us.
Kevin
Don’t Waste Your Voice
As I am getting ready for Men’s Retreat coming up in a few weeks, the importance of this event is on my mind quite a bit. Moreover, the importance of what will be communicated and how it is communicated is one of my greatest concerns.
One of the greatest gifts God has given us is the ability to communicate, to speak. We use our voice for many purposes, sometimes good, sometimes not so good.
Can you imagine if we truly realized the power of our voice?
If we understood that our voice is the most powerful and useful gift that God has given us?
How would that look?
How much would it change what we say and how we say it?
How would it change the way we share our faith in Christ?
Don’t waste your voice. Use it to glorify God. You only have one. use it wisely.
Kevin
Thursday Thoughts
My wife and I were talking the other day. We were using the words “common sense” and “common courtesy”. In the end of our conversation, we came to the conclusion that sense and courtesy has become less common these days. It seems like this is getting worse. Paul warned Timothy and he warns us:
2: 1) But understand this, that in the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2) For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud, arrogant, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, 3) heartless, unappeasable, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not loving good, 4) treacherous, reckless, swollen with conceit, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, 5) having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power.
Does this not fit our society to a tee? Of course I know that every generation previously thought that the society they lived in fit into this scripture. The farther we move away from the fall of Adam and Eve, we can see men’s tendency to do that which is evil in His eyes has grown greater and greater. Men have shown almost brazen courage in their rebellion towards God. Mankind laughs in the face of God and dares Him to do something. The scriptures explain why man becomes more and more evil:
Romans 1:28)And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done. 29) They were filled with all manner of unrighteousness, evil, covetousness, malice. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, maliciousness. They are gossips, 30)slanderers, haters of God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil, disobedient to parents, 31)foolish, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32)Though they know God’s decree that those who practice such things deserve to die, they not only do them but give approval to those who practice them.
While things get worse in this world, I praise God that there are those who are predestined: to be adopted as his sons through Jesus Christ, in accordance with his pleasure and will— 6to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves. 7In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God’s grace 8that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. 9And he[d] made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, 10to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ. (Ephesians 1:5-10)
Thank the Holy Spirit who is drawing those who are His by His irresistable grace and mercy! I am thankful that He shows us our totally depravity, but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
I am thankful for the hope these scriptures bring me . How about you?
Kevin
Who is Pulling the Strings? Part 2
Influence: the act or power of producing an effect without apparent exertion of force or direct exercise of command.
Manipulation: to control or play upon by artful, unfair, or insidious means especially to one’s own advantage.
Influence is a great gift. Some people are naturally blessed with a magnetic personality, for others, it takes a long process of building trust and relationship. Some leaders don’t even have to say a word, and people will instinctively react to what that person wants and carry out that unspoken command. As much of a mad-man Hitler was, he influenced a whole country to believe that Germans were genetically greater than any other race or person. His influence brought nearly an entire planet to war and the after-shocks of his hatred for the Jews still resides in many corners of the world. This type of influence is a perfect example of influence being demonically inspired. Jim Jones had a demonically inspired influence that caused people to drink the poisoned kool-aid without a thought of the fact that “gee, this stuff tastes weird!”
Influence can be a lot more subtle. Thats when we get into the area of manipulation. We will talk about that next time.
Peace,
Kevin
How Bad Do You Need Him?
The older I get, the more I realize I need Him. Leave me to do it my way, and I will mess it up in some way, shape, or form. I don’t say this so you will not have confidence in me. I say it because I know that I need Him like I need no other. I am not afraid to say it. I am not afraid of what you think. Cause I know the truth already. He has given me the life that I have for a reason. He has given you yours for a purpose. I am not prideful enough to believe that I don’t need His direction, protection, and provision. I would be a fool to think otherwise. In these times we live in, we need Him more than ever. We His children need to get a revelation of this in our hearts, cause there is a world that is looking for hope, peace and love. We need to learn to live this in our own lives so we can attest to the hope, love, peace that we have in the midst of all of our crap and all the stuff going on around us. I need Him today so much! Do you?
I need Thee every hour, most gracious Lord;
No tender voice like Thine can peace afford.
I need Thee, O I need Thee;
Every hour I need Thee;
O bless me now, my Savior,
I come to Thee.
One of His (Kevin)
What Will You Do?
Well, I had some business I had to attend to that didn’t afford me the opportunity to blog yesterday. It was a tough situation and it’s not over yet. When I faced with this situation, I knew it wasn’t going to be easy and in some ways would be scary. I left after my initial meeting about it with my stomach in knots.
I had a choice to make on how I would react to the situation. I was initially very upset and distraught about it, but I had a choice to make.
I can brood on it and really work my blood pressure through the roof. I could think about every negative outcome to this situation. OR I could get up, shrug off the mood I was in and go to worship team practice in faith that God is big enough to handle the situation. I’m sure if you were to ask anyone there last night they wouldn’t even know what kind of a day it was!
I know folks that have a personal crisis every day. They are fine one minute and ready to commit suicide the next. God does not want us to live our lives this way. He does not want us to deny we have problems but He DOES want us to acknowledge His faithfulness and His goodness, DESPITE the situation. The scriptures tell us many times that we will go through trials and tribulations. They also tell us that God will be with us in these situations with us.
When things come at us out of nowhere, we have to make a decision. Once you get through the initial shock, how will act from that point? Will you declare His goodness, or will you let depression, despair, and fear take control?
You can go through tough times with a smile on your face. You don’t have to live in constant defeat every day of your life. Have faith. God is with you. I’m sure you can look back on some time in your life and you can see how He got you through a tough situation. Many times He brings us through and we didn’t even realize it. The pain you felt is gone. The constant nagging of that issue in your head isn’t nagging you anymore. Many times you don’t even realize what God has done. Think back and I’m sure your eyes will be opened. I have had this happen before. Our source group had been praying for jobs for some of the folks going. By the time we met again, a couple of those people had found jobs! God moved and He showed me how He does things and we don’t even realize it! (we also need to give Him some hearty praise for answering our prayers)
God is moving even when we can’t see it. Make the choice to trust and not despair and watch Him move in your life. It’s not easy. You may have to resist the urge to despair more than once. Know that He is with you and you will be surprised when that situation is just another testimony of His grace to share with someone else.
One of His (Kevin)
Do You Want to Run?
John 6: 52)They started arguing with each other and asked, “How can he give us his flesh to eat?”
53)Jesus answered:
I tell you for certain that you won’t live unless you eat the flesh and drink the blood of the Son of Man. 54)But if you do eat my flesh and drink my blood, you will have eternal life, and I will raise you to life on the last day. 55)If you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you are one with me, and I am one with you.
57)The living Father sent me, and I have life because of him. Now everyone who eats my flesh will live because of me. 58)The bread that comes down from heaven isn’t like what your ancestors ate. They died, but whoever eats this bread will live forever.
59)Jesus was teaching in a Jewish place of worship in Capernaum when he said these things.
60)Many of Jesus’ disciples heard him and said, “This is too hard for anyone to understand.”
61)Jesus knew that his disciples were grumbling. So he asked, “Does this bother you? 62)What if you should see the Son of Man go up to heaven where he came from? 63)The Spirit is the one who gives life! Human strength can do nothing. The words that I have spoken to you are from that life-giving Spirit. 64)But some of you refuse to have faith in me.” Jesus said this, because from the beginning he knew who would have faith in him. He also knew which one would betray him.
65)Then Jesus said, “You cannot come to me, unless the Father makes you want to come. That is why I have told these things to all of you.”
66)Because of what Jesus said, many of his disciples turned their backs on him and stopped following him. 67)Jesus then asked his twelve disciples if they were going to leave him.
Jesus had quite a way in picking through the folks that were in it with Him for what He could do for them, and the ones who were truly His followers. Only people who truly understood who He was and what His purpose was, would understand what He was talking about. Those who just came by to see what was going on and be a part of the “crowd” would not have a clue and be instantly offended by what He was saying. It was against Jewish law to partake of the meat of any animal without first draining the blood, and it was unlawful to drink the blood. (Lev 7:26-27, Lev 17:10-12) So when Jesus said this, those around Him started to trip out! Many of His “followers” left Him. This happens a lot in the church today. We hear something that is out of our box that we put God in and it becomes very uncomfortable. Some messages are harder to hear than others. Sometimes what is spoken is meant to stir up a response, meant to challenge, to push and in some cases shove us out of our comfort zone. Maybe there is some old thought patterns on the way we see Him that need to be stretched. In any case, we have a choice to make at that time. Does what we hear, make us seek Him harder, or does it make us turn away? The good news of what Jesus has done for us is for our world today, but it doesn’t mean that everyone will choose to accept. If you are a Christ follower, there are going to be things you don’t believe or even strongly disagree When we hear something that we don’t agree with, the first thing we should do is turn to God’s Word. It is the ultimate source of God’s will for our lives. You don’t have to agree with everything you hear, it is ok to not. It is not ok to isolate yourself from God and from other Christ followers.
I used to dream of a wonderous place where I could go to church and everyone believed the same as me. What a moron I was!! I have come to appreciate the differences and it makes me have to be even more careful that I have my ducks in a row. There were things that I completely disagreed with that now I have come to embrace. There were ways of ministry that I didn’t think were “appropriate”, that I have come to realize are very effective and relevant to today’s society. We need to keep our minds open and leave room for God to operate outside of the box we put Him in.
Don’t run away from things that are outside your ability to understand. Jesus didn’t run away from the cross.
One of His
