Monday, October 27, 2014

Lesson in Patience

"Therefore be patient, brethren, until the coming of the Lord.  The former waits for the precious produce of the soil, being patient about it, until it gets the early and late rains."  -James 5:7-8


Lesson in Patience
The farmer waits being patient as we must wait patiently on the Lord.  But is there anything we can do to make our patient waiting easier?  Or more productive?  Maybe we can take a lesson from the farmer.  In the winter does he just go without his fruits and vegetables?  No.  He prepares.  He preserves.  He gets himself ready for the season when he knows it will be difficult.  We can do this too.  We can prepare.  Preserve.  When we are on our mountain top, experiencing God we tend to neglect our preserving.  Document it.  Write it down...bottle it up so to speak.  Prepare.  And when you feel distant or feel that winter season approaching in your life, open it up and read those words and see how God was moving.  Remind yourself to get back in His word.  And be nourished just like you were when you were in the harvest.

Friday, October 10, 2014

Eyes to See

Eph 1:17-19 speaks of the Spirit of Wisdom...Paul is writing to the Church at Ephesis

What stood out to me in the video this week was eyes to see...everything would change and you would dance the dance of your life.  Angela told the story of her little girl seeing angels singing "protect this girl" over her head when she was struggling with being wrongly accused and having to go into a meeting to defend herself the next day.  She spoke of how this is so true in our lives everyday...God has angels appointed to us to protect us and our families and our homes.  It was a very powerful picture she painted.

But the main the main thing I got was...

eyes to see
ears to hear
heart to obey
mind to respond

When we're following Christ and lead by the Holy Spirit, we will obtain all these things.  Gradually. 

Deuteronomy 29:2-3
"And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, 'You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and all his servants and all his land; the great trials which your eyes have seen, those great signs and wonders.  'Yet to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to know, nor eyes to see nor ears to hear.  'I have led you forty years in the wilderness; our clothes have not worn out on you and your sandals has not worn out on your foot.  ;You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or strong drink, in order that you might know that I am the Lord your God."

Deuteronomy 5:34
"Or has a god tried to go to take for himself a nation from within another nation by trials, by signs and wonders and by war and by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm and by great terrors, as the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? 'To you it was shown that you might know that the Lord, He is God; there is no other besides Him.  'Out of the heavens He let you hear His voice to discipline you; and on earth he let you see His great fire, and you heard His words from the midst of the fire. 'Because He loved your fathers, therefore He chose their descendants after them.  And He personally brought you from Egypt by His great power, driving out from before you nations greater and mightier than you to bring you in and to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is today.  'Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that the Lord, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other.  'So you shall keep His statutes and his commandments which I am giving you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may live long on the land which the Lord your God is giving you for all time."

It all comes down to trust.
Do we trust Him with our heart?  Do we trust Him with everything?  Do we trust Him to take our hand and lead us away from the wall to dance the dance of our lives?  We may be like the Israelites, and have seen the signs and wonders.  He may have even let us hear His voice but do we have the heart to respond?  Do we really trust Him?  Trust is a funny thing because its a two way street.  What about the fact that God has trusted us?  He has given us all His creations and trusted us with them.  He has given us a choice to follow Him and enter into a relationship with Him if only we trust Him.  He trusts that in your journey, through a relationship with Him, you will obtain eyes to see, ears to hear, a heart to obey and a mind to respond. 

Often times we are pretty untrustworthy to God, no better than the Israelites.  We make commitments to God haphazardly and as soon as life throws us a blow, we are out...looking at the world to fulfill us.  We bail on marriages as soon as something bad happens and calls for endurance and forgiveness, we bail on serving God as soon as we get disappointed because God didn't pull us out of a bad life situation, we even get mad at God when our kids do wrong after we have dedicated them to God. 

We said it before but it's worth repeating...it's not an overnight thing.  It's a journey.  One you will be on for the long haul.  Ever changing, ever growing.  So if you have those eyes to see but you struggle with that mind to respond part or you are pretty good with obeying but just pray every night for God to open your ears, don't get discouraged.  You're a work in progress.  We all are.  Just think about how far you've come and where you were in your journey 5 years ago, or 10 years ago...or even just 6 months ago for that matter.  God is moving and he wants to keep moving in your live...you just have to trust him.

Friday, October 3, 2014

The Spirit of God

John 14:16-17
"I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Helper that He may be with you forever; that is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it does not see Him or know Him, but you know Him because He abides with you and will be in you."


John 14:26
"But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My Name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you."


So you ever wonder...wow, how did those guys remember all that stuff to write those scriptures we read in the Bible?  They are all so accurate and they all match up with each other.  He says it right there...he will send the Holy Spirit to bring it to remembrance to you.  He did that for his disciples and He does it for us too.  You ever had one of those moments where you are presented with the opportunity to help someone or minister to someone or share a verse and you JUST learned it or it JUST popped in your head and you have no idea how you remembered that?  That is the Holy Spirit.  That is Jesus being true to His word, teaching you all things and bringing them to remembrance. 


Acts 1:8
"But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be my witness both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the Earth."


It's no coincidence that we just discussed this in church Sunday.  The example Pastor Tom gave us was in Acts 8:26 when the Angel of the Lord spoke to Philip and told him to get up and go south on the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza...he was prompted by the Holy Spirit.


God wants so badly to have His fullness indwell us, just as he did with Jesus. 


Colossians 1:19
"For it was the Father's good pleasure for all the fullness to dwell in Him."
He just wants to see us filled with the Holy Spirit.  Our responsibility as women of God is that we make our hearts available to God so he can fill it.  It's one thing to be a saved woman just getting by and a whole different thing to be living every day filled by the holy Spirit.  Do you wanna be a carnal Christian that knows a lot about God and salvation or do you wanna be a spiritual woman that is filled with the Holy Spirit?  Do you walk according to your old desires or are you allowing the Holy Spirit to leady you?


When you are saved the Lord will open you heart to pay attention and receive the Word of God just like he did to Lydia in Philippi on the riverside in Acts 16:14.  We just have to receive it and let the Holy Spirit lead us.