Don't Wind Up There--Start Out There!

I was chatting with my mother today and while we were talking it occurred to me that Christians often call out to God because of our trials, tribulations and struggles--it is a reaction. We seek Him earnestly when we find ourselves in trouble. In other words, we wind up calling out to God after troubles come upon us, but the Bible tells us in Matthew 6:33, . . . seek ye first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.

The new year is right around the corner and many are already dizzy thinking about the changes we want to make in our lives--we want to use the gym membership that we are already paying for--we want to call friends and family that we haven't spoken to in a while--we want to make it to work on time or do more at our children's school. We want to go to church more. We want to give more. We want to get to a goal. We want to fulfill a purpose.

What if you turned your own world upside down by implementing this simple principle from Matthew 6:33?

Make God your first resort, your first thought, your first answer and your first choice. Put God into the decision making equation. Too many of us are hedging our bets. We want to include God at the end--just in case He'll do it or work it out for us, but we've gone all around town trying to get help from everyone else and trying to come up with our own solutions--many times because we don't believe that God can or will take care of every aspect of our little lives, but listen, He said in His Word that He knows the number of hairs on your head and he bottles up your tears. That kind of God IS concerned with you and everything that affects you so much so that He moves mountains on your behalf each and everyday. I some times let my mind think about the miracles that God has performed in my life--all of the events that had to fall in place--all of the people that had to be in the right place at the right time to give me a Word so that I could keep on keeping on; all of the finances that had to exist for me to be where I am right at this moment--God is concerned about YOU. He loves YOU.

From the time of God walking with Adam in the Garden of Eden we were created for praise and to seek Him first. He made us for His good pleasure and we belong to Him. He made us and He called us His friends. What kind of friend have you been? We get excited singing I am a Friend of God--He Calls Me Friend. But what kind of friend have you been! Do you call Him just to beg Him for everything you want then hang up when He wants to talk to you? No? Let's take another look, do you listen when you get down on your knees? Do you just be quiet and listen or do you spend the whole time talking, then say "Amen" get up and walk off, satisfied within yourself that you have prayed today? Prayer is an intimate conversation with God not a monologue or a rant of your voice. It is a telephone call not a text message! It is not meant to be one sided.

Make seeking God first your New Year's/New Day's/New Hour's resolution; not as a gimmick, but as a serious attempt to allow God to do what only He can do in your life. Only God can fill you up so that you're not emotionally needy or depressed; only God can run your cup over with purpose to live for so that you're not bored or looking for something to do--in all the wrong places. Your trust and your hope is not in your spouse, your children or your best friend, but in the Lord. There isn't anything that He will withhold from us if we seek Him first. He is our Father and the giver of good gifts.

Time is of the Essence

If you have ever read through Ecclesiastes 3 you realize that man is tasked by time. The Almighty is not phased or tethered by time, but it is our albatross. The interesting thing is how much of it we spend frivolously; how much we waste and fritter away so carelessly. We spend time trying to find ourselves and figure things out and get to the place were we can stand each other--let alone learn to love one another.

And all the while God is merciful and patient and kind; His mercy enduring forever. For some reason when you realize that you have a terminal illness like cancer then all of a sudden every thing becomes so important because you feel your time is running out, but the fact is that everything is important all the time.

Your children are important. Your spouse is important. Your friends are important; your parents; your family; your church family. It is important that you accept Christ. It is important that you live humbly and give to others and teach your children to give and to prefer others over themselves.

My daughter makes me want to cry some times. She has never been a selfish child; she never asks for a lot for Christmas. This year she told me that Christmas was about giving. She decided to take from her own savings to buy underwear, a coat, boots and hat and gloves for another child and a chew toy and snacks for a dog at the animal shelter.

We must learn to cherish others in the little time that we have. Our lives are but a vapor. We were not put here to indulge ourselves in things that we cannot take with us.

I had a thought the other day. What good would it do me to have amassed great wealth at the end of my life? I should hope that when I'm gone people could say that I gave all. Jesus truly gave ALL and all to Him we owe.

You Do What You Can Do and Let Him Do What Only He Can Do

I often tell my daughter to do what she can. Because my daughter was a premature baby she spent a lot of time in the hospital where others did everything for her all the time, but I always knew that the key to her long term success was her learning to do what she could do for herself when she was able to do it. For example, the last month that she was in the NICU (neo-natal intensive care unit), she was there because she refused to eat--she wouldn't suckle. The doctors told us she'd have to be released with a feeding tube because they couldn't keep feeding her through the tube going down her nose and they had to send her home. My husband and I prayed and sought God and the next day we met with the doctors again. We told them that our daughter was not going home with a feeding tube nor would she continue to be fed through her nose. Instead we insisted that they simply remove all forced feeding so that she would get hungry and want to eat on her own. She needed to learn to do what she could do.

The doctors were horrified by our suggestion and said that such a thing had never been done in the history of University Hospital and that we were taking a risk of losing our child to starvation. They tried to scare us, but God had already assured us of what to do. The head of the NICU came to us and told us, She's your child and you have to do what you believe is best. We told him that we had prayed and this is what we knew was best. The feeding tube was removed on that Monday evening. By Wednesday we had our daughter at home and she was drinking from a bottle on her own! She had her struggles and it was very messy, but we learned that she could do it.

As Christians it is so important that we lean on God and trust in Him with all of our hearts. What we think we know from our experiences really doesn't apply with God because He is known for creating something out of nothing and for bringing order to chaos. God is the master of impossible. He works best in an underdog situation. He likes it when everyone has counted you out--that's exactly when He does His very best work.

Our position in all of this is to do what we can do, which is all things through Christ who strengthens us and then to let God do what only He can do. Last story . . . this morning I came down the stairs to see my daughter struggling to get her coat off the coat rack. Her hat and gloves were on the bench fully within her reach, but she hadn't touched those at all. I chided her because she had spent all of her time trying to do something that she couldn't do--that wasn't her job to do, and totally ignoring what she could do and what was her job to do. Today let's make it up in our minds to do what God has called us to do and to allow God to do what only He can do in our lives.

Keep Your House Clean: You Never Know Whose Going to Stop By.

Last night when my family got home we did something we rarely do. Without any prompting we all started doing chores and picking up around the house. A little while later when I was just about done cooking dinner a friend showed up at our door.

I was reminded of the lesson I learned when I was younger to keep your house clean because company could come by at any time. This morning the scripture came to me that says, know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost [which is] in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? I Corinthians 6:19.

The Lord was speaking to me and telling me that just like my house, I must keep my temple clean. You never know when you're going to run into someone else who needs a Word from the Lord; or whose looking for an opportunity for reconciliation. You never know when you're going to be needed to pray somebody else through a trying situation.

When you are stressed by your own mess you're not available to bless someone else.

Like keeping your house clean, keeping your temple clean is a chore, but according to the Word of God, it is not a tough chore. It requires taking on the mind of Christ through the renewing of your mind. It requires a daily commitment to dying to self and selfish ways. It means that you'll have to put off the weight of the world that keeps you from moving forward and put on His yoke and learn of Him. It means that you're going to have to trust in the Lord with all of your heart and lean not unto your own understanding acknowledging Him in all your ways so that He will be the director in your life.

When your temple is clean you more easily recognize when others are reaching out desperately for help. You make yourself available through love and sacrifice. When your own place is a mess you become entangled and engulfed by your own hoarding; fixated on problems that God can easily solve. So what if you only have $5.00 in your pocket. $5.00 in your hands is only worth $5.00, but $5.00 in the Master's hand is more than enough! It's fishes and loaves for 5000 men. When you recognize that what you have will never do until your turn it over to Jesus, you'll start putting your trust in Him. When you put your trust in Him, you can help someone else to do the same, and that's really what we're here for--not for our own puffery or recognition. So what if you're a scholar. God's Word promises that He will confound those who are knowledgeable in their own eyes and use those who are humble in His sight. Paul was one of the most intelligent men in Biblical history, but his humility, recognition of and reference for God is what made him powerful and memorable. He knew that his journey wasn't about himself or what he knew, but it was about giving God glory with the totality of his life.

I want to share a personal testimony of why I so love my church and my Bishop and Pastor. I am an internal person. I'm an extreme introvert--according to some personality testing. But as I am discipled at uE I'm learning that God can use me just the way I am for His glory. When I clean my house and let Him in, I become a voice for Him. "I" melt away and I desire more of Him every day. If God can do this for me and through me, I can only imagine what awaits YOU!

During this past summer we ventured out into the community to minister. I felt myself stumbling over my words and pushing past my comfort zone to talk to others about ministry opportunities at uE and the good news of the gospel. I saw people come to the Bible studies and then start coming to uE. It was powerful. I made up my mind to never be bound again by petty personal trash in my own house. No more! I made up my mind through that experience to keep my house clean because you just never know when you will meet up with a divine appointment where you can share Jesus Christ with someone.

We sing a song that tells the Lord, for your glory I will do anything . . . just to see you and behold you as my King! Let's make it up in our minds to keep our houses clean today. We do not belong to ourselves. We are bought with a price and as a result we belong to Him. My desire is to do your will oh Lord!

Your Struggles are "Your" Struggles for God's Glory

If you have children you quickly learn that there are life events that you wish you could shield them from, but you simply cannot because they must go through these things on their own in order to gain their own strength, to learn and to grow. Your job as a parent is to balance your level of intervention so that you don't create an unhealthy co-dependent relationship where you rescue your child out of every dilemma. When we do that we handicap them. We take away their opportunities to know their limits and their strengths. If we are not careful we can ruin our children's path to gaining the tools to deal with life's challenges. I truly believe this is why we have so many parents who wind up saying things like, I don't know she's on drugs. We gave her everything, or, He keeps getting into trouble with the law, but we've done all we know how to do. Our struggles come to make us. Some come to make us stronger. Some come to make us more courageous. Some come to teach us life lessons. Some of the things that we go through are not about us at all! All of the things we go through come to make us wholly dependent on God.

When we transpose this simple lesson on to our Christian lives we begin to understand why God allows trials and tribulations. We begin to understand why people that we love dearly struggle over and over with tough situations that we just can't help them with--it isn't our place. We understand why we wrestle with our own set of issues, habits, vices and addictions. The Word of God states, There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God [is] faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear [it]. I Corinthians 10:13.

Think of it this way, a vessel is heated to make is usable, gold is burned to make it pure. We will be tried, but the trying is to bring us to a place where God can use us. It is to make us malleable and fit for the Master's purpose. How many times have you shook your head at a young Christian and thought, I remember when I was there. How many times have you prayed for a church member or a family member because they seem to be going through the same struggles over and over. How many times has your heart ached because of what you see someone going through or because of what you're going through yourself?

The fact is that we must endure those things that God allows knowing that God is well aware of what we and others can bear, but He is more concerned about the end result.

Make it up in your mind today to stand still, to remain under--not always taking or making the way of escape, to endure the test and to respond differently today than you did in the past. Today when you face your struggle begin to praise God and raise your hands and give Him glory in the middle of it all. Your response will encourage you and others, it will confuse the enemy and it will lift God up from the Earth so that He can draw others through the blood of the lamb and the Word of your testimony. Be a vessel tried and fit for the Master's use today.

A Dry and Desolate Place

No one ever wants to be stuck in a dry and desolate place. It makes you feel helpless. But sometimes, for our good, that is exactly where we are led to.

Recall the children if Israel wondering in the wilderness. Certainly when they first arrived they felt apprehension because they were in a new unfamiliar place having just escaped a tragic situation. They were hungry and unable to provide for themselves. They were uncomfortable and found it hard to trust in the God who had just parted the Red Sea for them.

The interesting thing is that this wilderness experience really became a time of transition. There were people who died and never saw the promised land. God provided manna. Moses provided leadership. Some of the people tried to revert to idol worship. So much occurred in the wilderness that could not be taken into the promised land.

We can apply all of this to our own lives. There are reasons and seasons when we find ourselves in a dry and lonely place. We usually arrive at this place from a tragic experience; it could be the loss of a loved one or financial difficulties. Whatever delivers us to this place we must remember that the experience is only one of transition. In the words of my pastor from KC It won't always be like this.

There are some habits that need to die off of us while we are in our dry and desolate place.
We must learn to rely on God as our only source while we are in our dry and desolate place.
We must remember all that God has done for us while we are in our dry and desolate place.
We must worship God for who He is while we are in our dry and desolate place.
We must learn to trust God while we are in our dry and desolate place.
We must make it up in our minds not to take any mess into our next season while we are yet in our dry and desolate place.
We must give up the spirit of fear and pick up power, love and a sound mind while we are in our dry and desolate place.
We must learn to pray in our dry and desolate place.
We must learn to prefer others in our dry and desolate place.
We must obey God without thought of the reasons or consequences while we are in our dry and desolate place.
And finally, we must not be to weary to use our faith to scout out, fight for, and enter into our promised place.

Recall that the children of Israel couldn't just occupy the promised land. They had to fight. Some of the scouts came back saying that things looked too tough, that entering into the land that God had ALREADY given them was going to be impossible. But two reported back in faith, hope, trust and belief that if God said it, they believed it and that settled it.

Just because you may be in a dry and desolate place right now doesn't mean that your promise isn't still within your grasp. We stay in our dry and desolate place as long as it takes us to spiritually mature. Determine that you will use this time to learn what God wants you to learn so that you can occupy your promise.