God speaks!

There is a battle raging and most of us simply miss it. It's a battle for our soul. Not that we don't experience the effects of it, indeed we do but we are deceived in our understanding of where this battle comes from. 

Isaiah 59:2 - But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.

Anything - you name it, that separates us from God is SIN. We have to constantly ask ourselves, is this bringing me to God or away from God? We have to be willing to come before God through his son Jesus accepting him as Lord of our lives and openly receive the fullness of life in him. God doesn't just leave us there but receives us, he washes us white as snow with the precious blood of Jesus then fills us with his Holy Spirit. It's the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives that draws us closer to God. I pray Father, give me eyes to see and ears to hear you, set me on a course straight towards you.

God speaks - the question for us - Are we listening? Throughout history God has used his people to deliver his will and used them to encourage people to turn back to God.

Elijah was known as the prophet of fire

Elisha was known as the prophet of faith

Amos was known as the prophet of fear

Hosea was known as the prophet of forgiveness

How hard do our hearts have to be? How many idols or high places have we placed in the spot of God? How far have we gotten off track? How many affairs have with had with other loves? We commit adultery with anything we worship other than God

God knows each one of us intimately. He knows what we need even before we ever ask or think. And he places his messengers in just the right spots at just the right times to speak his truth. Do we have ears to hear? Are we able to recognize the great works of his hands? 

Do we welcome the work of the Holy Spirit in our lives to bring us closer to God? God has a plan and a purpose for each of us. He desires that none should perish so much so that he gave his son Jesus to pay our debt. 

John 3:16 "For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." WHOEVER! That's pretty simple Who - ever. But we have to make the choice.

We are moved by our emotions due to this battle going on around us and/or in us. But God says "whoever" believes will not perish. We have a blood bought promise. 

Stop what you are doing right now and ask God to speak ever so clearly to you where it's undeniable that it's him.

God speaks are we listening? It's our greatest form of...

Signs

I couldn't help but laugh when I came across this sign! 

If only the signs around us were so obvious and came at a place that gave us opportunity to turn around and go another way. Or do they and we just don't pay attention to them? I have to wonder how many accidents happened because someone thought they would fit under the bridge. Or worse saw the sign, hit it and still tried to go under the bridge cause they knew better.

What I love about this sign is the spiritual meaning I see in it. Sin separates us from God and His holiness. Jesus had to come to this earth to "bridge the gap" between man and God that sin destroyed. Jesus is our bridge and how many times do we try and "go under or fall short" of his way? If we don't submit to the Lordship of Christ we are a wreck. If we don't do things God's way it is always going to fail. 

In 1 Samuel 15:22-23 the prophet Samuel is talking to Saul who was the king of Israel - But Samuel replied "Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the voice of the Lord? To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams. For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king." God's voice speaks do we listen?

How many of us struggle with trying to go under, over or around the bridge God has provided to us through His son Jesus Christ? When we don't trust God we get lost in the "lower story." When we seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness - then all these things will be given to us. (Matthew 6:33) To seek means to turn to God first for help, to fill your thoughts with his desires, to take his character for your pattern, and to serve and obey him in everything - giving him Lordship in your life. 

We need to seek God and when we do we find Him, He is right there ready to meet all our needs. God calls Himself "I am" - what does that mean? He's everything, He's enough, He's all we need... and through Jesus we can be reconciled to a right relationship with Him, an intimate personal relationship with Him. 

God give us signs to see you clearly, Father make it easy, You know us better than anyone and more than we know ourselves. Turn our hearts towards Yours. 

I can't help but think of the story of Rehoboam King of Judah - see 1 Kings 14:21-31. Long story (not that long but to save time) made short - He was the son of Solomon who inherited a mighty kingdom with everything he could possibly want. His father Solomon was the one that established the temple of God in Jerusalem. During Rehomoam's reign he permitted God's people to sin and set up for themselves high places, sacred stones and Asherah poles on every high hill and under every spreading tree. There were even male shrine prostitutes in the land and the people engaged in all kinds of detestable practices. As a result God allowed the kingdom to be attacked by Shishak king of Egypt (mind you - God delivered the people of Israel from the bondage of slavery in Egypt but this story shows the bondage and slavery that sin brings in our lives) Shishak took everything, including all the gold shields Solomon had made. So King Rehoboam made bronze shields to replace them and assigned these to the commanders of the guard on duty at the entrance to the royal palace. Whenever the king went to the Lord's temple, the guards bore the shields, and afterward they returned them to the guardroom. 

This is what he should have seen when looking at these bronze shields.

How many times did Rehoboam walk past these bronze shields? An idol if you will fashioned by man as a false image? Did they cry out REPENT? Repent means to experience sorrow for and seek to change wrong behavior. They served as a constant reminder of the precious shields of gold that he allowed to be carried off. Was his heart so hard that he wasn't sensitive to the signs around him? What is the condition of our hearts?

As believers in Christ we are called to put on the full armor of God so we can take a stand against the devil's schemes. Ephesians 6:13-17 says, Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. 

Take up your shield of faith and walk in the fullness of the grace and mercy Jesus' blood poured out for you. He knows our sin oh so well, for he's already bore it on the cross  - it was personal with him. Our response should be to make it personal with Him - intimate and personal in relationship.

The plan works if you work the plan

How easy it is to point a finger or proclaim if only ______ (fill in the blank). We all have hurts, hang-ups & habits no one on the face of the earth is exempt. Due to sin we all fall short of the glory of God. 

There was a time when God would walk in the Garden of Eden with Adam and Eve, but once they ate fruit from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil their relationship with God changed. God created us to have an appetite. When we get hungry our body sends our mind a message telling us we need food. God wants us to know the sense of victory, joy and fulfillment, but it can only be found in him. 

Right now there is a commercial out that explains our sinful nature. We want more (click to follow the link). I just can't stand when this commercial comes on, but know God has a great sense of humor and can use anything and of all times for this to be on TV is the same time we are studying the story of Solomon. 

David, Solomon's father and the king of Israel gave his son a charge as he made Solomon king of Israel to go out and live the way of the Lord - in other words "follow the plan". (read - 1 Kings 2: 1-4)

Solomon had a good start he sought God and in a mountain top experience with God he was given the opportunity to ask for anything he desired and Solomon asked for discernment. (read - 1 Kings 3: 1-28)

How many of us have experienced God in a mighty way? Maybe at a retreat or church camp, in a worship service, the list goes on an on... some special time where our eyes were opened and we experienced God in a life changing way. (read Luke 24: 19-35) After Jesus had been crucified, two of his followers were on a road to Emmaus, they were talking about all that had recently taken place in regards to Jesus when they came across someone on the road (this person was Jesus) he asked "What are you discussing together as you walk along?" In their sorrow they shared with him all that had happened. Jesus said to them "How foolish you are, and how slow to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Messiah have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?" Jesus went on to explain all the Scriptures concerning himself. They approached the village where thy were going to and urged Jesus to stay with them, he did. When they were at the table Jesus took the bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them "then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?"

These men were believers and yet they missed seeing Jesus. Had their emotions gotten the best of them and led them into the "lower story" or maybe disbelief? Solomon was unique. Most people we learn about are people who are living out their "lower story" through a matter of bad circumstances, choices of their own making or ones made by someone else. Solomon had it all & it still wasn't enough he wrote in Ecclesiastes 1: 2-9:

"Meaningless! Meaningless!" says the Teacher. "Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless. " What do people gain from all their labors at which they toil under the sun? Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever. The sun rises and the sun sets and hurries back to where it rises. The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course. All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again. All things are wearisome, more that one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing. What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun.

Ever felt this? Ever said this? EVERYTHING is meaningless when it's not lived out for the glory of God. This is the lifestyle of a sponge always soaking up and never giving out without being squeezed. Who wants to be forced to give it out? What would our lives look like if we surrendered it ALL the good the bad and the ugly over to the glory of God? 

Thinking of this lifestyle I can't help but picture 

a transparent vessel in the sight of God. 

A vessel fashioned to fit in his holy hand, to be filled with His Spirit and be poured out for His glory. 

Genesis 2:7 - The Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. 

Our bodies are lifeless shells until God brings it alive with his breath of life. God makes his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 

2 Corinthians 4:7-11 - But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body.

No matter where we are, recognizing the need for a savior or the one who thinks they don't need a savior. God is there and his love for you is so great he sacrificed his own son placing on him your sin, my sin, sin for all time so that in the work of Christ and in him alone we can be reconciled and made right in the eyes of the Lord God who created us to be in union with him. 

If you are struggling with a hurt, hang-up or habit check out this site Celebrate Recovery