No matter where we, God’s people, dwell on this earth — it is not our HOME!
Oppressions will come from people, governments, systems … all without cause. Our faith in God does not make us popular – rather it brings with it the disdain of those who would rule over us. Again our hope lies in The One who truly rules over us! He will always show us what His name is and what His name means.
He will display for the nations that …. I AM!!!Because it is so!
Oppression by our enemies is God’s chance to show Himself strong!
Lord, We don’t welcome oppression, in fact we fear it! But … we ask that you would forgive our doubts and hear our cries. Show yourself mighty before those who would try to rule over us in your stead.
When the Lord offers us eternity and more than this – when He offers to make us vessels of eternity that can effect the lives of others — why don’t we grab hold?
We are so focused on the physical, that we cannot see what is in front of us in the spiritual realm. We are worried about the labor involved in taking care of our most basic needs — forgetting that our most basic needs are being met all of the time through no effort on our part.
We lose focus of the spiritual need that we have; His gift of what our strong inner desires and our deepest need should be – deep desire within each of us to be in a relationship with the true and living God.
The Lord offers us satisfaction of the strong inner desires and deepest needs He has put in our heart, and then He says that satisfaction will become a well within us that others can draw from … so that they can receive this same satisfaction. This satisfaction is salvation! Reconciliation to the Father! Satisfaction! We miss the point – and focus on the labor involved in the mundane. We completely miss the point!
I am praying for the Father to help our hearts see when He is offering more than our finite mind can conceive. I am asking that he will never let us choose to grasp the mundane when He has offered the supernatural – the eternal. Praying that He will teach us to hear Him well and not to only listen for what we long to hear! Praying that He will help us to seek for our satisfaction in Him alone.
It’s a New Year! I want to keep running to the finish line. The only life prize that matters is the one that has been promised by God, through Jesus Christ … eternal life with him. I’m not there yet, God knows I’m not!!! But I’m committing to leaving the junk and mistakes of 2020 back there … and moving on in 2021, allowing His Spirit to guide and direct me, and doing every single thing for the sake of His glory.
No! I’m not yet all that God wants me to be … but I’m pushing hard to let Him change me, mold me AND make me all that He’s called me to be. It’s what my Savior wants from me. It is why He made me His own!!! (Philippians 3: 12 – 15) So … for 2021, I want to keep moving after some things and add new things that’ll help me be what He wants me to be.
So here’s my 21 for 2021:
Focus on the problem solver, not the problem (preach Reginald!)
Believe I can do things, because He told me to do them
Love, even when the love is not returned
Forgive, even if it happens again
Repent and repent again
Ask for the filling of the Holy Spirit each and every day
Extend mercy to people, just as I beg for mercy from Him
Grace, I’ll give it to others just as He gives it to me
Share my joy
Speak truth
Build friendships
Pour in to relationships that I’ve neglected
Be a respecting baby sister – listening to and being taught by my older sisters, who are amazingly God filled women
Listen and learn from the Word of God
Love and pour truth into my children and grandchildren
Truly take care of my physical body
Lead well in every role God has placed me in
Serve well in every place God has sent me
Love, obey, adore, serve, encourage, care for, invest in … my wonderful gift of a husband
Serve, obey, glorify, uplift, reflect, praise, submit to, listen to, talk to … my God, my Savior, my King, my Father, my All In All
Yield and Submit fully to The Almighty God!! Living fully for His will, His glory, His purpose … for the sake of His Kingdom!
Happy New Year, friends and family!!!
Let’s take the next step in wonderful new ways for the sake of His glory!!
For His glory … let us ALL be willing to do anything!!!
Bob Carlisle wrote a song back in 1996 that was made popular by Donnie McClurkin, “We Fall Down”. The song talks about a person discovering the grace of God in His failures – realizing even people of God made mistakes and the grace of God covered them and gave them a new start. We all have different testimonies – but all of us have made our share of mistakes – we have all said and done things that we later regretted and as we take a backwards look at our lives, we know it was the grace of God that kept us. As for me – I am amazed at how the Lord has kept me in spite of me! My testimony is that I faltered, but because of His grace – it was never fatal!
God does not delight in our mistakes but He delights in our desire to obey Him. Even when we falter, He sees our hearts and knows whether we are truly seeking His will or seeking to satisfy ourselves. Think about it with this statement – powerful in every way ….
WHEN you desire to obey Him
When YOU desire to obey Him
When you DESIRE to obey Him
When you desire to OBEY Him;
He will honor your obedience with His presence and power in your life!
Sometimes we step out in front of God; moving before we get his direction about something that seems urgent. What does stepping out in front of God look like? It looks like: getting something off our chests when we should’ve keep quiet; taking out a payday loan when we need to manage the funds we have; buying that sale item when we don’t really need to be spending; eating that last piece of pie when we know we don’t need it; getting into a relationship that we know is ungodly; compromising our morals because it seems like an easier way; etc. When we move outside of His will, we are failing to exercise our right to rely on The One who will always guide us to the best action and decision for our lives. When we fail to follow His lead – we will miss out of His best for us.
The great thing about being a Christ follower is that because we are His chosen ones – we have access to His grace. Because we have access to His grace — we always have access to a course correction. We might have to go back to the drawing board — but He will be there waiting to redirect us – to get us headed in the right direction. He knew we were going to muddle things; He knew we couldn’t keep His commandments without His intervention; He knew that we would botch even His simplest commands — so, in His great love, He sent us a Savior! He gave us unlimited access to His grace! When we mess up He has a giant eraser AND a beautiful paint canvas! How awesome is that?!
Here’s the deal — we all make mistakes; but He, in His infinite kindness towards us, will always be willing to give us a do over. We can rest assured that as we trust in Him and seek to obey Him (seek to OBEY Him!); He will honor us with His direction and His presence in our situation. Take a step back from your situation; your temptation; your stressor — He will gladly guide you in the right way allowing you to start over because it gives Him great joy to bless your life when you are leaning on His understanding and not your own.
Our mistakes do not have to be fatal errors — we really can start over! CTRL/ALT/DEL — reboot — start again.
The steps of a man are established by the LORD, And He delights in his way. (Psalms 37:23)
Working in the world of global missions\international ministry/missionary service – whatever you’d like to call it 🙂 is a grand privilege. We work in the power of God to present the world with the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ! Our boss is the most powerful boss on the planet; the most virtuous; the most fair; the most loving boss in the entire world. He is loving; He wants all of us to succeed; He has equipped and called us in specific ways! He created the world and He has accomplished more than we will ever accomplish AND He will bring to pass more than we can ever hope to do in our own power! Perfect — He is absolutely perfect!
But there is, as always with humans, a little bit of a catch. We love to give honor; adoration; credit; distinction to others who have been in the same line of work – as if something that they’ve done is beyond us. It’s normal – its what we do; its what I do! We name things after those who went to the mission field 100s of years ago; we compare one another to those who have laid their lives down for the gospel and gone on to glory; we remind ourselves of what our predecessors have done. Normal ….
The truth of the matter is there was but ONE who counts as the initial missionary – He is our Christ, His name is Jesus. He left His home and throne to come down to this earth and ensure that a fallen world would be reconciled to The Creator. He is the ONE who shed His blood – and only His blood is worthy of any praise and adoration. For those of us who have believed on Him and have since been called to a life on the mission field (Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria, or the uttermost parts of the earth) — we all will benefit the same; whether we were called 100s or years ago or just landed in our new place of service.
We just better be careful! There is nothing that we do that will esteem us above Him. There is nothing that we will do that will esteem us above one another. Didn’t you believe on Him to be saved?! Didn’t you answer the call out of your own love and obedience to God? Didn’t you say “Yes” because you were willing to work for His glory and not your own? Aren’t you ready to accept whatever it is He greets you with in glory, even if its not the same as Jim Elliot, Ray Buker, Mark Young, Amanda Berry Smith, George Leile, Grover Cooper or even Lloyd Chinn?!
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.--Romans 8:38-39
