Reality #4 Part 11 God Speaks through Circumstances

Proverbs 3:5-6
"Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths."

You may have heard people say, "Well, I don't care what you say; I've experienced this."
A good response is, "I do not deny your experience. I do question your interpretation of what you experienced because it is contrary to what I see in the Word of God."

Our experiences alone cannot be our Guide! Every experience must be controlled and understood by the Scriptures. The God revealed in Scripture does not change. Throughout your life, you will have times when you want to respond based on you experiences or your wisdom. Seeking to know God's will based on circumstances alone can be misleading. This should be your guideline: Always go back to the Bible for truth (or for the Holy Spirit to reveal truth.) When you study the Scriptures, look to see how God works throughout the Scriptures. Don't rely on one isolated case. When you learn how God has worked throughout history, you can depend on His working in a similar way with you. Your experience is valid only as it is confirmed in the Scriptures. I never deny any experience that a person has had, but I always reserve the right to interpret it according to what I understand in the Scripture.

The Bible is your Guide!
I use the Word of God as a guide to what we should be doing. Some people say, "Hey, that is not practical." They want to move me away from the Bible and rely on the world's ways or on personal experience. As a Christian disciple, I cannot abandon the guidance I find in the Bible. The Bible is my guide for faith and practice. How do you let the Word of God become you guide? When I seek God's direction, I insist on following the directives that I see in the Word of God. The Holy Spirit uses the Bible, prayer, and circumstances to speak to us or show us the Father's will.

Jesus knew the Father's will for His life and daily activity by watching the Father's activity. Jesus described the process in John 5:17,19-20 "But Jesus answered them, 'My Father is working until now, and I am working.' So Jesus said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father does, that the Son does likewise. For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing. And greater works than these will he show him, so that you may marvel.'
Jesus said that He did not take the initiative in what to do for the Father (v. 19). Only the Father has that right. The Father had been working up until Jesus' earthly time, and was still working (v. 17). The Father would let the Son know what He was doing (v. 20). When the Son saw the Father's activity, that was the invitation for the Son to join Him. God used circumstances to reveal to Jesus what He was to do. The circumstances were the things Jesus saw the Father doing. There are some things that only the Father can do. Jesus always looked for where the Father was at work and then joined Him. The Father loved the Son and showed Him everything He was doing. Jesus did not have to guess what to do. Jesus did not have to dream up what He could do for the Father. He watched to see what the Father was doing around His life, and Jesus put His life there. The Father could then accomplish His purposes through Jesus. This is exactly what Jesus wants us to do with His Lordship in our lives. We see what He is doing and adjust our lives, our plans, and our goals to Him. We are to place our lives at His disposal -- where He is working -- so He can accomplish His purposes through us. The example of Jesus is a positive way God speaks through circumstances. Sometimes circumstances appear to be "bad." Maybe you have found yourself in the middle of a "bad" circumstance and you wanted to ask God, "Why is this happening to me?" You are not alone.

God's perspective is vital!
Job had a similar experience. He did not understand why everything he owned was destroyed, why his children were killed, and why he developed sores all over his body (Job 1-2). Job wrestled with understanding his circumstances. He did not know what was happening from God's perspective (Job 1:6-12; 2:1-7). Neither did he know the last chapter (Job 42:12-17) where God would restore his property, his family, and his health.
Job's friends thought they had God's perspective and told Job to confess his sin. Job could not find any unrighteousness in his life to confess. If you didn't have that last chapter and didn't know God's perspective, whose side do you think you would be on? God's or Job's? You probably would be with Job, saying, "I want to ask God what is going on. Why is He allowing this to happen?" Without God's perspective, you would think God was being cruel to Job.
When you face difficult or confusing circumstances, they can overwhelm you. If you put yourself in the middle of the circumstances and try to look at God, you will always have a distorted understanding of God. For instance you might say, "God doesn't love me" or "God is not fair." Both of those statements about God are false. Have you ever been in the middle of a tragic or confusing circumstance where, in your prayers, you began to accuse God of some things that you know are not really true? Perhaps you began to question God's love or His wisdom. Maybe you were afraid to say that He was wrong, but you sort of said, "God, you deceived me in letting me believe that this was the right thing to do. Why didn't you stop me?" A whole lot of wrong conclusions can result if you try to look at God from the middle of a painful circumstance.
What do you do?
First, go to God and ask Him to show you His perspective on your circumstance. Look back at you circumstances from the heart of God. When you face difficult or confusing circumstances, the Spirit of God again will take the Word of God and help you understand you circumstances from God's perspective. He will reveal to you the truth of the circumstance. Then you can adjust yourself and your thinking to God's perspective.

For His Glory
Everything that God does or allows to happen is for His Glory! You may ask, "How is God Glorified in the devastation left by the two recent hurricanes and the Tsunami? Or, How was God Glorified in 9/11?" The easy answer to those questions is, how many people got back into church? How many people started to pray again? How many people responded to help those in need? But, only God truly knows in what ways He was truly Glorified.
A story I heard about the Tsunami and Katrina:
The Tsunami completely wiped out an Island that was 100% a Gay and Lesbian population. And Katrina put a stop to a huge homosexual festival that was to be held in New Orleans the following week, where the previous year there were orgies out in public and the police completely ignored it. (I don't know how much truth there is in these stories, but I would say those things didn't Glorify God, and He graciously allowed them to be ended.) (My stance on Homosexuality: It is wrong and detestable in the eyes of the LORD! Love the sinner, hate the sin. The only difference between a homosexual and me is that I have Christ living within me. I am just as guilty of sexual sin as they are, but Christ has redeemed me and wants to redeem them as well.)

Back to Circumstances:
Let me summarize how you can respond when circumstances are difficult or confusing:
1. Settle in your own mind that God has forever demonstrated His absolute love for you on the cross. That love will never change.
2. Do not try to understand what God is like from the middle of your circumstances.
3. God to God and ask Him to help you see His perspective on your situation.
4. Wait on the Holy Spirit. He may take that Word of God and help you understand your circumstances.
5. Adjust your life to God and what you see Him doing in your circumstances.
6. Do all He tells you to do.
7. Experience God working in and through you to accomplish His purposes.

Remember that God is sovereign. You may face a situation like Job experienced where God does not tell you what He is doing. In those instances acknowledge God's love and sovereignty and depend on His sustaining grace to see you through the situation.

In Christ,

David

Which book of the Bible are You?

I am a little of both! But I would tend to lean more towards Romans!

1 More of the Be's for you!

Matthew 5:5
"Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth."

What does meek mean?
Meek (according to dictionary.com) =
1. Showing patience and humility; gentle.
2. Easily imposed on; submissive.

Meek (as God sees it) = Strength Under Control!

Numbers 12:3
"Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who were on the face of the earth."

Do you see Moses as meek, if meekness is defined as above by dictionary.com?
The man who lead the Nation of Israel.
The man who stood before Pharaoh.
The man who killed an Egyptian with his bare hands.
The man who parted the Red Sea.
The man who smashed the 1st set of the 10 Commandments.
The man who met directly with God (face to face) on a regular basis.
Do these seem like the qualities of meekness as defined by the world?

I don't think so! But I think they fit in with God's definition.
Moses was a strong leader, but His strength came from and was under the control of God!

Moses lead a life that was yielded to God. We must strive to do the same! Keep our strength under God's control. Remembering that our strength only comes from Him!

Guys, this could come in very useful in your relationship with your wife/girlfriend!
Be a leader! But keep your strength under God's control!

In Christ,

David

3 of the Be's

Matthew 5:8
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God."

Matthew 5:3
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."

Matthew 5:4
"Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted."


What does it mean to be pure in heart?
Pure (according to Dictionary.com) =
1. Having a homogeneous or uniform composition; not mixed: pure oxygen.
2. Free from adulterants or impurities: pure chocolate.
3. Free of dirt, defilement, or pollution: “A memory without blot or contamination must be... an inexhaustible source of pure refreshment” (Charlotte Brontë).
4. Free of foreign elements.
5. Containing nothing inappropriate or extraneous: a pure literary style.
6. Complete; utter: pure folly.
7. Having no faults; sinless: “I felt pure and sweet as a new baby” (Sylvia Plath).
8. Chaste; virgin.
9. Of unmixed blood or ancestry.

Pure (as I believe God sees it) = Holy (number 7 comes close)

Pure of Hear = Having Christ dwell in your heart
Living as Paul puts it in Titus 1, Above Reproach

And if that happens in our lives, we will see God, we will see Him not only at the end, but working in our lives!

What does it mean to be Poor in Spirit?
Seeing ourselves in light of Who God is!
We see this in the life of Isaiah! Isaiah 6
He comes face to face with God and all of His Holiness, and falls to His face and cries out, "Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!" (v. 5)

We need to come to an understanding that before the Holiness of Almighty God, we are but wreched worms! This is being poor in spirit.

Once we are here we understand that we are in desperate need of a Savior, of Jesus Christ and accepting Him as Lord and Savior fulfills the last part of the verse, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven!

What does it mean to mourn?
I do think that this is calling for us to mourn lost ones and mourn with others, but I think that there is a deeper calling here.
Once we get to the point of seeing ourselves in light of who God is, we start to see our sin in a different light. When once we enjoyed drinking, now what is the point? When once premarital sex or sex outside of marriage was fun, now it hurts.
Sin grieves the very Heart of God, He mourns our sins, and we should also mourn our sins. How many times have you gone before God and flippantly confessed sin, only to turn around and commit that sin again.
Do you think that if you had mourned over, grieved over, and cried through that sin, that things might change? Are you truly sorry for your sin? Or is Jesus kind of a "get out of jail free card?" I Jesus truly Lord of your life, is the life you are yielded fully to Him? Are there some areas that you hold on to and do not release control of to Jesus?

I want to encourage you to pray through these verses. God is bigger than any problem, and sin that you have. He promised that if you mourn (your sin), you will be comforted.

In Christ,

David

Reality #4 Part 10 Spiritual Concentration and Prayer

Our problem is that we pray and then never relate anything that happens to our praying. After you pray, the greatest single thing you need to do is turn on your spiritual concentration. When you pray in a direction, immediately anticipate the activity of God in answer to your prayer. I find this all the way through the Scripture; when God's people prayed, He responded!
Here's what happens if you pray and then forget about what you have prayed. Things start to happen during the day that are not normal for your day. You see them all as distractions and try to get rid of them. You fail to connect them with what you have just prayed. When I pray, I immediately begin to watch for what happens next. I prepare to make adjustments to what begins to happen in my life. When I pray, it never crosses my mind that God is not going to answer. Expect God to answer your prayers, but stick around for the answer. His timing is always right and best.

The Silences of God
I went through a lengthy time when God was silent. You probably have had that experience too. I had been praying over many days, and there seemed to be total silence from God. I sensed that heaven was shut up. I didn't understand what was happening. Some people told me that if God does not hear my prayer, I have sin in my life. They gave me a "sin checklist" to work through. I prayed throughout the sin checklist on this occasion. As far as I could tell, I was okay. I could not understand the silence of God. (I don't agree with "sin checklists", they can get very legalistic. But we must confess our sins before God and mourn our sins.) Do you remember a biblical person who had a problem like this? Job did! His counselors told him that all his problems were because of sin. Job kept saying, "As best I know, God and I are on the right terms." Job did not know all that God was doing during that time, but his counselors were wrong. There was another reason for what God was doing.
The only thing I knew to do was go back to God. I believe that the God who is in a love relationship with me will let me know what is going on in my life when and if I need to know. So I prayed, "Heavenly Father, I don't understand this silence. You are going to have to tell me what You are doing in my life." He did--from His Word! This became one of the most meaningful experiences in my life! I did not frantically go searching for an answer. I continued the daily reading of the Word of God. I was convinced that as I was reading the Word of God, the Spirit of God (who knew the mind of God for me) was in the process of helping me understand what God was doing in my life. God will let you know what He is doing in your life when and if you need to know.

Timing
One morning I was reading the story of the death of Lazarus (John 11:1-45). Let me review the sequence of events. John reported that Jesus loved Lazarus, Mary, and Martha. Having received word that Lazarus was sick unto death, Jesus delayed going until Lazarus died. In other words, Mary and Martha asked Jesus to come help their brother, and there was silence. All the way through the final sickness and death of Lazarus, Jesus did not respond. The received no response from the One who said He loved Lazarus. Jesus even said He loved Mary and Martha. yet there was still no response. Lazarus died. They went through the entire funeral process. They fixed his body, put him in the grave, and covered it with a stone. Still they experienced silence from God. Then Jesus said to His disciples, "Let's go." When Jesus arrived, Lazarus had been dead four days. Mary said to Jesus, "Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died" (v. 32). Then the Spirit of God began to help me understand something. It seemed to me as if Jesus had said to Mary and Martha:
You are exactly right. If I had come, your brother would not have died. You know that I could have healed him because you have seen Me heal many, many times. If I had come when you asked Me to, I would have healed him. But, you would have never known any more about Me than you already know. I knew that you were ready for a greater revelation of Me than you have ever known in you life. I wanted you to come to know that I am the resurrection and the life. My refusal and My silence was not rejection. It was an opportunity for Me to disclose to you more of Me than you have ever known.

When that began to dawn on me, I almost jumped straight out of my chair. I said, "That's what's happening in my life! That's what's happening! The silence of God means that He is ready to bring into my life a greater revelation of Himself that I have ever known." I immediately changed the attitude of my life toward God. With great anticipation, I began to watch for what God was going to teach me about Himself. I then had some things happen in my life that I might never have responded to without that kind of readiness and anticipation!
Now, when I pray and there is a silence from God, I still confess and mourn my sin, sometimes God's silences are due to sin. If there is unconfessed sin in my life, I confess it and make it right. If, after that, there is still a silence with God, I get ready for a new experience with God that I have never known before. Sometimes God is silent as He prepares to bring you into a deeper understanding of Himself. Whenever a silence comes, continue doing the last thing God told you and watch and wait for a fresh encounter with Him. You can respond to the silence of God in two ways. One response is for you to go into depression, a sense of guilt, and self-condemnation. The other response is for you to have an expectation that God is about to bring you to a deeper knowledge of Himself. These responses are as different as night and day.
Do you know what set me free? Truth! Truth is a Person who is actively involved in my life. The moment that I understood what God might have been doing, I made an adjustment of my life. I put away the depression and guilt. I quit feeling that maybe I was of no use to God and that He wouldn't hear me anymore. I made the major adjustment in my life to an attitude of expectation, faith, and trust. The moment I did that, God began to show me how I could respond to Him in such a way that I would know Him in a greater way.

In Christ,

David

Reality #4 Part 9 More on Prayer

The first thing you want to do is deny self. In all honesty with yourself and before God, come to the place where you are sure that your only desire is to know God's will alone. Then check to see what the Holy Spirit is saying in other ways. Ask yourself:
1. What is He saying to me in His Word?
2. What is He saying to me in prayer?
3. Is He confirming it through circumstances?
4. Is He confirming it through the counsel of other believers?

God never will lead you in opposition to His written Word. If what you sense in prayer runs contrary to Scriptures, it is wrong! For instance, God will never, never lead you to commit adultery. He always is opposed to that. Watch for God to use the written Word to confirm what you are sensing in prayer. Don't play games with God, through. Don't just look for a Scripture that seems to say what you selfishly want to do, and then claim it is God's will. That is very dangerous. Don't do it!

Have you ever prayed for one thing and gotten another? I have. Then some dear soul would say, "God is trying to get you to persist. Keep on praying until you get what you want." During one of those times I kept asking God in one direction, and I kept getting something else. In the middle of that experience, I started reading from Mark 2. That is the story of the four men who brought their crippled friend to Jesus to be healed. Because of the crowd, they opened a hole in the roof and let the man down in front of Jesus. Jesus said, "Son, your sins are forgiven you." Mark 2:5 I started to read on, but I sensed that the Spirit of God said, "Did you see that?" I went back and began to meditate on that Scripture. Under the guiding, teaching ministry of the Holy Spirit, I began to see a wonderful truth! The four men were asking Jesus to heal the man, but Jesus forgave the man's sins. Why? They asked for one thing, and Jesus gave another! This man and his friends asked for a particular gift, but Jesus wanted to make the man a child of God so he could inherit everything! I found myself weeping before God and saying: "Oh God, if I ever give You a request and You have more to give me than I am asking, cancel my request!"

What is happening when you Pray?
If I start asking God for one thing and something different happens, I always respond to what begins happening. I have found that God always has far more to give me than I can even ask or think. Paul said, "Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever!" Ephesians 3:20-21
You can't even think a prayer that comes close to what God wants to give you. If God wants to give you more than you are asking, would you rather have what you are asking or what God wants to give? Only the Spirit of God knows what God is doing or purposing in your life. Let God give you all that He wants to give. "For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely give to us by God." 1 Corinthians 2:10-12
Suppose you wanted to start a mission church in a particular area of town. You have taken a survey to identify the needs. You have made all your long-range plans. You have asked God to bless and guide your work. Then God begins to bring to your church a group of ethnic people who don't live in the target area. What would you do? You might have these options:
1. I would "keep on keeping on" in my praying until God helps us start the mission church we have planned.
2. I would get frustrated and quit.
3. I would start asking questions to see if we should start an ethnic mission church instead of or in addition to the other one.

Do you know what I would do with that? I would immediately go before God and clarify what He is saying. If I have been working and praying in one direction and I see God working in a different direction, I adjust my life to what God is doing. In this kind of situation, you have to decide whether you are going to do what you want and ask God to bless it, or go to work where He is working.

In Christ,

David

Reality #4 Part 8 God Speaks through Prayer

Romans 8:26-27
"Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God."

What a fitting day for this post! Once a month my roomie Matt and I host a prayer party, and it just so happens that it is tonight!

If you are not keeping a spiritual journal or diary, you need to! If the God of the universe tells you something, you should write it down. When God speaks to you in your quiet time, immediately write down what He said before you have time to forget. Then record your prayer response! You can also write down the verse of Scripture He used and what God has said about Himself through that verse! Another thing to write down also would be how you intend to adjust your life to God!

Truth is a Person
The Holy Spirit reveals truth. Truth is not just some concept to be studied. Truth is a Person. Jesus did not say, "I will teach you the truth." He said, "I am...the truth" (John 14:6). When God give you eternal life, He gives you Himself (John 17:3). When the Holy Spirit reveals Truth, He is not teaching you a concept to be thought about. He is leading you to a relationship with a Person. He is your Life! When God gives you eternal life, He gives you a Person. When you became a Christian, Jesus didn't give you some thing; He gave you Himself!
1. God creates in me the desire to participate in His mission to reconcile a lost world to Himself.
2. I respond and come to God seeking to know His will.
3. When God reveals a truth to me, I know He is trying to alert me to what He is doing in my life.

When God reveals truth through His Word, that doesn't lead to an encounter with God; it is the encounter with God. When He reveals truth to me, I am in the presence of a living Person. He is Author of the Scriptures. The Author is telling me through His Word what He is doing in my life. The Spirit of God knows the mind of God. He will make the will of God known to me through the Word of God. I must then take that truth and immediately adjust my life to Him. I do not adjust my life to a concept or a philososphy but to a Person. Have you ever read a Scripture you have read many times before, but suddenly you see something in it for the first time? That truth is not a concept for you to figure out how to work into your life. God is introducing you to Himself and alerting you that He is wanting to apply this truth to your life right now. When God is ready to do something in your life, the Spirit of God uses the Word to make that know to you. Then you can adjust your life to Him and what He has just revealed to Himself, His purposes, or His ways.

Prayer is a Relationship
Prayer is two-way fellowship and communication with God. You speak to God and He speaks to you. It is not a one-way conversation. Your personal prayer life may primarily be one-way communication -- you talking to God. Prayer is more than that. Prayer includes listening as well. In fact, what God says in prayer is far more important than what you say!
Prayer is a relationship, not just a religious activity. Prayer is designed more to adjust you to God than to adjust God to you. God doesn't need your prayers, but He wants you to pray. You need to pray because of what God wants to do in and through your life during your praying . God speaks to His people by the Holy Spirit through prayer. When the Holy Spirit reveals a spiritual truth to you in prayer, He is present and working actively in your life. Genuine prayer does not lead to an encounter with God. It IS an encounter with God. What happens as you seek God's will in prayer? The sequence is this:
1. God takes the initiative by causing you to want to pray.
2. The Holy Spirit, through the Word of God, reveals to you the will of God.
3. In the Spirit, you pray in agreement with the will of God.
4. You adjust you life to the truth (to God).
5. You look and listen for confirmation or further direction from the Bible, circumstances, and the church (other believers).
6. You obey.
7. God works in you and through you to accomplish His purposes.
8. You experience Him just as the Spirit revealed as you prayed.

The Spirit of God often uses the Word of God when you pray. I find that when I pray about something, Scripture often come to my mind. I don't see it as a distraction. I believe He is trying to guide me through the Scripture. I have found that as I pray about a particular matter, the Spirit of God takes the Word of God and applies it to my heart and my mind to reveal the truth. I immediately stop my praying and open the Word of God to the passage I believe the Spirit of God brought to my mind.
We are weak and do not know how we ought to pray. There is, however, some good news: "Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God." Romans 8:26-27
The Holy Spirit has an advantage over us -- He already knows the will of God. When He prays for us, He is praying absolutely in agreement with the will of God. He then helps us know the will of God as we pray.
Is it important to know when the Holy Spirit is speaking to you? Yes!! How do you know what the Holy Spirit is saying? I cannot give you a formula. I can tell you that you will know His voice when He speaks (John 10:4). You must decide that you only want His will. You must dismiss any selfish or fleshly desires of your own. Then, as you start to pray, the Spirit of God starts to touch your heart and cause you to pray in the direction of God's will. "For it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure." Philippians 2:13
"When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come." John 16:13
When you pray, anticipate that the Holy Spirit already knows what God has ready for your life. He does not guide you on His own initiative; He tells you only what He hears from the Father. He guides you when you pray.
You may be asking the question: "But how do I know that the directions I am praying are the Spirit's leading and not my own selfish desires?" Do you remember when we talked earlier about not having our own will?

More on that in the next post

In Christ,

David

Reality #4 Part 7 God Speaks through the Bible

2 Timothy 3:16-17
"All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work."

God speaks to you by the Holy Spirit to reveal Himself, His purposes, and His ways. Perhaps the questions people ask most about God's speaking are:
1. How does God speak to me?
2. How can I know when God is speaking?
3. How can God be more real and personal to me?
God speaks to individuals, and He can do it in any way He pleases. As you walk in an intimate love relationship with God, you will come to recognize His voice. You will know when God is speaking to you. He will see to it.

Knowing God's Voice
Jesus compared the relationship He has with His followers to the relationship a shepherd has with his sheep. He said, "But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep...The sheep hear his voice...and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice."
God is sovereign! He can do whatever He chooses to do. With the Scripture as our guide, we know God can speak in unique ways to individuals. His people will hear and recognize His voice.
In our time, God primarily speaks by the Holy Spirit through the Bible, prayer, circumstances, and the church. These four means are difficult to separate. God uses prayer and the Bible together. Often circumstances and the church, or other believers, will help confirm what God is saying to you. Frequently, God uses circumstances and the church to help you know His timing.
Lets look at how God speaks through the Bible!

The Bible Is God's Word
The Bible describes God's complete revelation of Himself to humanity. It is a record of God's dealings with humanity. It is a record of God's dealings with humanity and His words to them. God speaks to you through the Bible. Have you ever been reading the Bible when suddenly you are gripped by a fresh new understanding of the passage? That was God speaking!
A person cannot understand spiritual truth unless the Spirit of God reveals it. In fact, the Holy Spirit is "the Spirit of truth" (John 14:17). When you come to understand the spiritual meaning and application of a Scripture passage, God's Spirit has been at work. This does not lead you to an encounter with God; that IS the encounter with God. When God speaks to you through the Bible, He is relating to you in a personal and real way.
When the Holy Spirit reveals a spiritual truth from the Word of God, He is personally relating to your life. That is an encounter with God. The sequence is this:
1. You read the Word of God -- the Bible.
2. The Spirit of truth takes the Word of God and reveals truth.
3. You adjust your life to the truth of God.
4. You obey Him.
5. God works in and through you to accomplish His purposes.
The Spirit uses the Word of God (the sword of the Spirit -- Ephesians 6:17) to reveal God and His purposes. The Spirit uses the Word of God to instruct us in the ways of God. On our own we cannot understand the truths of God: "The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. The spiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one." (1 Corinthians 2:14-15)
Unaided by the Spirit of God, the ways and things of God will be foolishness to us (1 Corinthians 2:14). Aided by the Spirit, we can understand all things (1 Corinthians 2:15).
Understanding spiritual truth does not lead you to an encounter with God; it Is the encounter with God. You cannot understand the purposes and ways of God unless the Spirit of God teaches you. If God has revealed spiritual truth to you through this passage of Scripture, you have encountered God Himself working in you!

Responding to Truth
Reading the Scripture is an exciting time of anticipation for me. The Spirit of God knows the mind of God. He knows what God is ready to do in my life. The Spirit of God then begins to open my understanding about God and His purposes and His ways. I take that very seriously. Here is how I respond when God reveals truth to me in His Word.
I write down the passage of Scripture. Then I meditate on it. I try to immerse myself in the meaning of that verse of passage. I adjust my life to the truth and, thus, to God. I agree with God and take any actions necessary to allow God to work in the way He has revealed. Then I alert myself to watch for ways God may use that truth in my life during the day.
You may want to follow this same process as God reveals truth to you. When God leads you to a fresh understanding of Himself or His ways through Scripture:
1. Write down the verse(s) in a notebook, spiritual journal, or diary.
2. Meditate on the verse.
3. Study it to immerse yourself in the meaning of the verse. What is God revealing about Himself, His purpose, or His ways?
4. Identify the adjustments you need to make in your personal life, your family, your church, and you work so God can work that way with you.
5. Write a prayer response to God.
6. Make the necessary adjustments to God.
7. Watch to see how God may use that truth in your life during the day.

Adjust, Obey, and Experience
God speaks by the working of the Holy Spirit and through His Word. God wants you to have no hindrances to a love relationship with Him in your life. Once God has spoken to you through His Word, how you respond is crucial. You must adjust your life to the truth.
We need to:
1. Agree with the Truth in God's Word
2. Agree that the truth applies to our lives
This agreement with God is confession of sin. Confession means you agree with God about your sin. To agree with God, you must change your understanding to agree with His. This requires an adjustment. Is that all you must do? No! Agreeing with God is not enough. This is where obedience is required. To obey what God has said to you through the Bible, you must do what God is directing you to do.
Adjusting your mind to the truth God has revealed to you is one step short of completion. You must also respond to the truth in obedience. Then you are free to experience a more complete relationship with God. Always tie a revealed truth to your understanding of God and your relationship with Him.

As you spend time in a love relationship with God you will come to know His voice. But God has already given you many messages and commands in His Word, the Bible. As you read the Scriptures, the Holy Spirit will be at work to reveal truth about God, His purposes, and His ways. When He clearly speaks, you must adjust yourself to the truth revealed and obey God. When you obey Him, you will experience Him working in and through you to accomplish His work in His world!

In Christ,

David

Reality #4 Part 6 God Reveals Himself, His Purposes, and His Ways

Isaiah 55:8-9
"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."

Micah 4:2
"Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths."

God speaks to His people!
When He speaks, what does He reveal?

Throughout the Scriptures when God spoke, it was to reveal something about Himself, His purposes, or His ways. God's revelations are designed to bring you into a love relationship with Him.
When God speaks through the Holy Spirit to you, He is often revealing to you something about Himself. He is revealing His name, His nature or Character.
Genesis 17:1
"When Abram was ninety-nine years old the LORD appeared to Abram and said to him, 'I am God Almighty."
Leviticus 19:1-2
"And the LORD spoke to Moses, saying, 'Speak to all the congregation of the people of Israel and say to them, You shall be holy, for I the LORD your God am holy."
Malachi 3:6-7
"For I the LORD do not change, therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts."
John 6:51
"I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."

God speaks when He wants to involve a person in His work. He reveals Himself in order to help the person respond in faith. The person can better respond to God's instructions when he believes God is who He says He is and when he believes God can do what He says He will do! God reveals Himself to increase faith that leads to action. You will need to listen attentively to what God reveals to you about Himself. This will be critical when you come to the crisis of belief.
1. You will have to believe God is who He says He is.
2. You will have to believe God can do what He says He will do.
3. You will have to adjust your thinking in light of this belief.
4. Trusting that God will demonstrate Himself to be who He says He is, you then obey Him.
5. When you obey, God does His work through you and demonstrates that He is who He says He is.
6. Then you will know God by experience.
7. You will know He is who He says He is.

When did Abram know God was almighty?
Well, he knew it in his mind as soon as God said it. But he came to know God by experience as God Almighty when God did something in his life that only God could do. When God gave Abraham (100 years old) and Sarah (90 years old) a son, Abraham knew God was God Almighty.

God reveals His Purposes
He does this so you will know what He plans to do! If you are to join Him, you need to know what God is about to do or what He is already doing. What you plan to do for God is not important. What He plans to do where you are is very important! God speaks with a purpose in mind.
Take a look back at the stories of Noah and Abram! God spoke to them Always with a purpose in mind! Look at David, the Judges, the Prophets, the Disciples and Paul! When God was about to do something, He took the initiative to come to His servants!
Amos 3:7
"For the Lord GOD does nothing without revealing his secret to his servants the prophets."
He spoke to reveal His purposes and plans. Then He could involve them and accomplish His purposes through them.

Psalm 33:10-11
"The LORD brings the counsel of the nations to nothing; he frustrates the plans of the peoples. The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations."
Proverbs 19:21
"Many are the plans in the mind of a man, but it is the purpose of the LORD that will stand."

Your plans and purposes must be God's plans and purposes or you will not experience God working through you.
Planning is a valuable tool, but it never can become a substitute for God. Your relationship with God is far more important to Him than any planning you can do. Our biggest problem with planning is that we plan and carry out things in our own wisdom that only God has a right to determine. We cannot know the when, or where, or how of God's will until He tells us.
God wants us to follow Him, not just some plan!
Planning is not all wrong. Just be very careful not to plan more than God intends for you to plan. Let God interrupt or redirect your plans anytime He wants! Remain in a close relationship with Him so you can always hear His voice when He wants to speak to you. I have found that the best planning meetings are prayer meetings where we spend time with our Father finding out what He is up to around us!

Even the casual or uninformed reader of the Bible can see that God's ways and plans are different from man's. God uses kingdom principles to accomplish kingdom purposes. God reveals His ways to us because they are the only way to accomplish His purposes. His goal always is to reveal Himself to people to draw them into a love relationship with Himself. His ways are redemptive. He acts in such a way to reveal Himself and His love. He does not simply wait around in order to help us achieve our goals for Him! He come to accomplish His own goals through us -- and in His own way.
Isaiah 55:8
"For my thoughts are not you thoughts, neither are your ways my ways declares the LORD."
Isaiah 53:6
"All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all."
Our ways may seem good to us. We may even enjoy some moderate successes. But when we do the work of God in our own ways, we will never see the power of God in what we do. God reveals His ways because that is the only way to accomplish His purposes. When God accomplishes His purposes in His ways through us, people will come to know God. They will recognize that what has happened can only be explained by God. He will get glory to Himself!
Mark 6:30-44
Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand
"The apostles returned to Jesus and told him all that they had done and taught. And he said to them, 'Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while.' For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat. And they went away in the boat to a desolate place by themselves. Now many saw them going and recognized them, and they ran there on foot from all the towns and got there ahead of them. When he went ashore he saw a great crowd, and he had compassion on them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd. And he began to teach them many things. And when it grew late, his disciples came to him and said, 'This is a desolate place, and the hour is now late. Send them away to go into the surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to eat.' But he answered them, 'You give them something to eat.' And they said to him, 'Shall we go and buy two hundred denarii worth of bread and give it to them to eat?' And he said to them, 'How many loaves do you have? Go and see.' And when they had found out, they said, 'Five, and two fish.' Then he commanded them all to sit down in groups on the green grass. So they sat down in groups, by hundreds and by fifties. And taking the five loaves and the two fish he looked up to heaven and said a blessing and broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the people. And he divided the two fish among them all. And they all ate and were satisfied. And they took up twelve baskets full of broken pieces and of the fish. And those who ate the loaves were five thousand men."
Man's way?
God's way!

God's purposes accomplished in His ways bring Him Glory! We must do kingdom work in kingdom ways.
Micah 4:2
"Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob, the he may teach us his ways."

Let us always go to the Lord and clarify what I am absolutely convinced He is saying to us. Then, we can proceed and watch to see how God affirms it! To do this we must make our love relationship with God all-important. God reveals His ways through His Word! Seek Him out!

In Christ,

David

"Come, Follow Me."

Mark 1:16-20
Jesus Calls the First Disciples
"Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. And Jesus said to them, 'Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.' And immediately they left their nets and followed him. And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him."
Mark 2:12-14
"He went out again beside the sea, and all the crowd was coming to him, and he was teaching them. And as he passed by, he saw Levi the son of Alphaeus sitting at the tax booth, and he said to him, 'Follow me.' And he rose and followed him."

Honestly, those two words can be the scarriest words that anyone would ever hear!
"Follow me."
Who are you? Where are you going? What for? What will happen to the things I leave behind?
There are so many questions that come to my mind even now!

What did Simon, Andrew, James, and John do?
Verse 18 and 20 say that they left immediately...no hesitation, they didn't even finish what they were doing, they immediately left and followed Christ!
What did Levi do?
Verse 14 says: "And he rose and followed him."
No questions! He just got up and followed!

Man, to have that type of faith!
Where you lead me Lord, I will Follow!

But, we do have that! God has given it to us through His Spirit!
2 Timothy 1:7-14
"For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony about our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but share in suffering for the gospel by the power of God, who saved us and called us to a holy calling, not because of our works but because of his own purpose and grace, which he gave us in Christ Jesus before the ages began, and which now has been manifested through the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel, for which I was appointed a preacher and apostle and teacher, which is why I suffer as I do. But I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that he is able to guard until that Day what has been entrusted to me. Follow the pattern of the sound words that you have heard from me, in the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus. By the Holy Spirit who dwells within us, guard the good deposit entrusted to you.

The point that I am getting at is this:
We balk at God's calling because of fear...fear of the unknown! A fear that is based off of feelings.
However, we have something that is known that we fail to follow...The Word of God!
God is leading us...He has given us the information that we need to know. The only question that is left for each of us to answer is: Do I trust God? That He has my best interests in mind? That He will provide for me and see that my needs are met? Do I trust God?
If the answer is Yes, Great...the Word is your sources of Strength and Prayer is your Lifeline!
If the answer is No, I would encourage you to seek Jesus Christ through Prayer and through the Word...try starting with the Book of John or Romans.

1 John 4:7-21
God Is Love
"Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God, and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God, because God is love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his only Son into the world, so that we might live through him. In this is love, not that we have loved God but that he loved us and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins. Beloved, if God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; if we love one another, God abides in us and his love is perfected in us. By this we know that we abide in him and he in us, because he has given us of his Spirit. And we have seen and testify that the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. Whoever confesses that Jesus is the Son of God, God abides in him, and he in God. So we have come to know and to believe the love that God has for us. God is love, and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him. By this is love perfected with us, so that we may have confidence for the day of judgment, because as he is so also are we in this world. There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love. We love because he first loved us. If anyone says, 'I love God,' and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen cannot love God whom he has not seen. And this commandment we have from him: whoever loves God must also love his brother."

God loves us! We Love because of Him! There is no Fear in Love!
Let us follow God in Love, trusting in His every word for we know that God cannot lie (Titus 1:2).

John 10:1-18
I Am the Good Shepherd
"'Truly, truly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door but climbs in by another way, that man is a thief and a robber. But he who enters by the door is the shepherd of the sheep. To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has brought out all his own, he goes before them, and the sheep follow him, for they know his voice. A stranger they will not follow, but they will flee from him, for they do not know the voice of strangers.' This figure of speech Jesus used with them, but they did not understand what he was saying to them. So Jesus again said to them, 'Truly, truly, I say to you, I am the door of the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand and not a shepherd, who does not own the sheep, sees the wolf coming and leaves the sheep and flees, and the wolf snatches them and scatters them. He flees because he is a hired hand and cares nothing for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again. This charge I have received from my Father.'"

Do you Trust Jesus?

Let us follow Him 100%, turning from our fear and entering into His Love!

In Christ,

David

God wants to Ruin Your Life

I have posted on Isaiah 6 before, but Doug, the Worship Pastor at Woodlands Church, preached on it this past weekend. And it is to good not to post!

Link to what I had previously written: http://getoutoftheboat.blogspot.com/2005/04/holiness.html

Doug's Sermon:

God Wants to Ruin Your Life!
1. When we truly understand our sinfulness in light of Gods Holiness, we realize we are ruined!

Isaiah 6:1-5
Isaiah's Vision of the LORD
"In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: 'Holy, holy, Holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!' And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. And I said: 'Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts!'"

We have unclean lips, and we live among an unclean people!
God is High and Seated on the Throne, Exalted and Praised!!

This is the biggest "OH NO" Ever!!! It's a realization that Sin separates us from God! Nothing we can do will make up for it!

The only thing that can make up for it is: The Blood of Jesus Christ, we are cleansed by His blood!
Romans 5
Peace with God Through Faith
"Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us. For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person--though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die-- but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. More than that, we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received reconciliation.

Death in Adam, Life in Christ
Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned-- for sin indeed was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come. But the free gift is not like the trespass. For if many died through one man's trespass, much more have the grace of God and the free gift by the grace of that one man Jesus Christ abounded for many. And the free gift is not like the result of that one man's sin. For the judgment following one trespass brought condemnation, but the free gift following many trespasses brought justification. If, because of one man's trespass, death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous. Now the law came in to increase the trespass, but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, so that, as sin reigned in death, grace also might reign through righteousness leading to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."

Ephesians 2:8-9
"For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast."

Isaiah lived before Christ, but in His vision, God did for Him what Christ did for us!
Isaiah 6:6-7
"Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his hand a burning coal that he had taken with tongs from the altar. And he touched my mouth and said: 'Behold, this has touched your lips; your guilt is taken away, and your sin atoned for.'"

2. When we truly understand our Salvation in light of our sinfulness, we are ruined to all else!

Nothing else can satisfy our Soul!
Example: Say every morning that you wake up you have a cup of Folgers Coffee. It is your 5 minutes of Heaven!
Then you go on vacation, Folgers is no longer available! OH NO!!! But, you order a cup of authentic Columbian fresh ground coffee. It is the best Coffee you have ever tasted!
Now, your morning Folgers experience has been completely ruined!

Once we Taste God (through Jesus Christ) all else is ruined!
Psalm 34:8
"Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him."

Nothing else will satisfy again, because Jesus Christ is imperishable and precious!
1 Peter 1:13-25
Be Holy
"Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: 'Be holy, because I am holy.' Since you call on a Father who judges each man's work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear. For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect. He was chosen before the creation of the world, but was revealed in these last times for your sake. Through him you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God. Now that you have purified yourselves by obeying the truth so that you have sincere love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from the heart. For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. For, 'All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of the Lord stands forever.' And this is the word that was preached to you."

Sin is what separates us from being completely Satisfied in Christ!
Sin is like Spiritual Adultery -- Prostitution!
We sell ourselves out. We go for the quick fix, and in doing so we miss what is best for us!

But, God still comes running after us!
Read Psalm 37, 63, and 84!

Jesus didn't Save us for a list of Religious rules either. He saved us for Himself!
He wants us to be in an Intimate Love Relationship with Him!
Romans 14:17
"For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking but of righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit."
These people were hung up on rules and regulations about food. Paul rebuked them because Jesus didn't Save us for a list of Religious rules! He saved us for Himself!

If Jesus hadn't given us Himself, we would be satisfied with cheap imitations!

3. When, by Faith we Surrender to Christ and recognize that He is Lord, we see "our" life as ruined!

The American Dream:
1. A nice life
2. A nice job
3. A nice spouse
4. Nice kids
5. A nice car or two or three
6. The cosmetically altered "perfect body"
7. A nice house
8. The perfect golf swing
9. Fame & Fortune
10. The ability to afford what I want
11. Every material desire met
12. A quiet, restful retirement
13. An easy and pain free death

Our life is not our own!
1 Corinthians 6:19-20
"Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body."

Galatians 2:20
"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."

Isaiah 6:8
Isaiah's Commission from the LORD
"And I heard the voice of the Lord saying, 'Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?' Then I said, 'Here am I! Send me.'"

From that moment on Isaiah did whatever God wanted him to do!

When you are Madly in Love with Jesus Christ -- Everything else dies to His plans for our lives! All of our plans -- die and His plans become our plans!!

It's a call to Holiness from us to ALL People!
Submitting our lives fully to God!

Jesus Described Heaven like this:
Matthew 13:44-46
The Parable of the Hidden Treasure
"The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field."

The Parable of the Pearl of Great Value
"Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it."




Are you willing to give up all that you have and follow Jesus?
My life has been ruined!
Believe it or not, my plans were to go into Music Theatre and try to make it on Broadway. Now that God got ahold of me, He has me on the path to becoming a pastor or missionary!!
I wouldn't trade Jesus Christ and the path that He has place before me for anything!

Has God ruined Your Life?
Will you let Him Ruin Your Life?

Ohhh, Taste and See! That the LORD is GOOD!

In Christ,

David

Reality #4 Part 5 Devoloping Character

God's timing is Perfect and Helps to develop Character to Match the Assignment. He knows exactly what He is doing in and through your life. Don't rule things out that God may be saying because they don't match what you want to hear.
When God called Abram, He said, "I will bless you and make your name great" (Genesis 12:2). That means, "I will develop your character to match your assignment." Nothing is more pathetic than having a small character in a big assignment. Many of us don't want to give attention to our character; we just want the big assignment from God.
Suppose a pastor is waiting for a big church to call him to be pastor. Then a small church calls and says, "Will you come and be bivocational and help us out here on the west side of Wyoming?"
"Well, no," the prospective pastor responds. He thinks, I am here waiting for God to give me an assignment. I have done so much training, I can't waste my life by working a secular job when I can serve a church fulltime. I think that I deserve something much more significant than that. I've paid my dues.
This viewpoint is so self-centered! Human reasoning will not give you God's perspective. If you can't be faithful in a little, God will not give you the larger assignment! He wants you to adjust your life and character in smaller assignments in order to prepare you for the larger ones. That is where God starts to work! When you make the adjustments and start obey Him, you come to know Him by experience. This is the goal of God's activity in your life -- that you come to KNOW HIM!!!

Do you want to experience God mightily working in your life and through your life? Then adjust your life to God in the kind of relationship where you follow Him wherever He leads you -- even if the assignment seems to be small or insignificant. Wouldn't you rather hear: "Well done, good and faithful servant; you were faithful over a few things, I will make you ruler over many things. Enter into the joy of your lord" (Matthew 25:21)?!

Now, you may ask, "Do I automatically assume that a request like the pastor received to the west side of Wyoming is from God because it is a small assignment?" No. Whether the assignment is large or small in your eyes, you will still have to find out whether it is from God or not. However, you always need to let God tell you that! You will know through the relationship with God. Don't try to bypass the relationship!
If you are God-centered, you will adjust your circumstances to what God wants to do. God has a right to interrupt your life. He is LORD! When you surrendered to Him as Lord, you gave Him the right to help Himself to your life anytime He wants. If you are not willing to be faithful in a little, God cannot give you a larger assignment. The smaller assignments of God are always used of God to develop character. God always develops character to match His assignment. If God has a great assignment for you, He has to develop a great character to match that assignment before He can give you the assignment. When God gives direction, you accept it and understand it clearly, then give God all the time He needs to make you the kind of person that He can trust with that assignment. Do not assume that the moment He calls, you are ready for the assignment. Consider David and Paul:
David: How long was it after God (through Samuel) anointed David king that David mounted the throne? Maybe ten or twelve years. God was building David's relationship with Himself. As goes the king, so goes the nation. You cannot bypass character!
Paul: How long was it after the living Lord called the apostle Paul on the Damascus Road that Paul went on his first missionary journey? Maybe ten or eleven years. The focus is not on Paul; the focus is on God. God wanted to redeem a lost world, and He wanted to begin to redeem the Gentiles through Paul. God needed that much time to prepare Paul for the assignment.
Its it for your sake that God takes time to prepare you? No, not for you alone, but also for the sake of those He wants to reach through you! For their sake, give yourself the kind of relationship to God we are discussing. Then, when He puts you in an assignment, He will achieve everything He wants in the lives of those you touch!

Specific Directions!
A popular teaching says God does not give you clear directives. It says He just sets your life in motion, then you try to figure out the directions using your God-given mind. This implies that a Christian always thinks correctly and according to God's will. This does not take into account that the old nature is constantly battling with the spiritual nature (see Romans 7). Our ways are not God's ways (see Isaiah 55:8). Only God can give you the kind of specific directions to accomplish His purposes in His ways.
After God spoke to Noah about building an ark, Noah knew the size, the type of materials, and how to put it together. When God spoke to Moses about building the tabernacle, He was very specific about the details. When God became flesh in the Person of Jesus Christ, He gave specific directions to His disciples -- where to go, what to do, how to respond! What about when God called Abraham (Abram) and said, "Get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you" (Genesis 12:1)? That was not very specific. That required faith. But God did say, "I will show you." God always will give you enough specific directions to do now what He wants you to do! When you need more directions, He gives you more in His timing. In Abraham's case, God later told him about the son to be born to him, the number of his descendants, the territory they would inhabit, and that they would go into bondage and be brought out.
The Holy Spirit gives clear directives today! God is personal. He wants to be intimately involved in your life. He will give you clear guidance for living. You may say, "That has not been my experience." You need to bring your experience up to the Word of God and not lower God's ways to match your experience! If you do not have clear instructions from God in a matter, pray and wait. Learn patience. Depend on God's timing. His timing is always right and best. Don't get in a hurry. He may be withholding directions to cause you to seek Him more intently. Again, Don't try to skip over the relationship! God is more interested in a love relationship with you than He is in what you can do for Him!
You may ask, "How can I know whether the word I receive is from God, my own selfish desires, or Satan?" Some people go to much trouble studying Satan's ways so they can identify when something appears to be a deception of Satan. I wouldn't do that! I am determined NOT to focus on Satan! He is DEFEATED! The One who is guilding me, the One who is presently implementing His will through me, is the Victor! The only way Satan can affect God's work through me is when I believe Satan and disbelieve God. Satan always will try to deceive you. Satan cannot ultimately thwart what God purposes to do!
Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Mounties, train men in anti-counterfeiting work. They never let a trainee see a counterfeit bill. They know only one genuine type of ten-dollar bill exists. The so thoroughly study the genuine bill that anything that does not measure up to that is counterfeit!
You can't imagine all the ways people can counterfeit money. But Mounties don't study how people counterfeit money. They just study the real thing. Anything that doesn't measure up to that is fake!

When you are faced with a sense of direction, you may ask yourself, "Is this God, me, or Satan?" How can you prepare yourself to know clearly a word from God? I suggest that you know the ways of God so thoroughly that if something doesn't measure up to God's ways, turn away from it! That's what Jesus did in the temptations. In essence Jesus just quietly said, "I understand what you are saying, Satan; but that is not the last word I had from My Father. The Scriptures say..." (see Matthew 4:1-11). Jesus never discussed it with Satan. He never analyzed it. He just kept doing the last thing His Gather told Him to do until His Father told Him what to do next.
As with Jesus' encounter with Satan, your spiritual warfare may involve being encouraged to do something that sounds good but is not God's best or God's way. Jesus knew clearly what His mission was an how the Father intended for Him to accomplish it. When Satan tried to get Jesus to go a different route for "instant success," Jesus recalled the assignment His Father had given and rejected the false counsel.

Seek after God! Adjust your life to His purposes and join with Him in His work!
If you have not bypassed the love relationship, you will be able to know if it is God, you, or Satan.
Cling to God and His Word!

In Christ,

David

Reality #4 Part 4 Encountering God

In the Old Testament, when God spoke to Moses, those events were encounters with God. Just like an encounter with Jesus was an encounter with God for the disciples. And in the same way our encounters with the Holy Spirit are encounters with God!
We know that the Holy Spirit was given, and He is the One who guides us into all truth and teaches all things. We understand spiritual truth because the Holy Spirit is working in our lives. We cannot understand the Word of God unless the Spirit of God teaches us. When you come to the Word of God, the Author Himself is present to instruct you. You never discover truth; truth is revealed. When the Holy Spirit reveals truth to you, He is not leading you to an encounter with God. That IS an encounter with God!!!

What should we do when we encounter God?

Respond Immediately!!!

God spoke to Moses, and what Moses did next was crucial! Jesus spoke to the disciples, and what they did next was crucial. What you do next after the Spirit of God speaks to you through His Word is crucial! Our problem is that when the Spirit of God speaks to us, we go into a long discussion with Him questioning the rightness of His directions.
Moses went into a long discussion with God (Exodus 3:11-4:13), and it limited him for the rest of his life. Because of his objections, God gave Aaron to be a spokesman for Moses. Moses had to speak to the people through his brother Aaron (Exodus 4:14-16).

The challenge:
Review what you sense God has been saying to you on a regular basis. If God speaks and you hear but do not respond, a time could come when you will not hear His voice. Disobedience can lead to a "famine...of hearing the words of the LORD" (Amos 8:11-12).
Respond to God Immediately!!!
Be like Samuel!
"Samuel grew, and the LORD was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground" (1 Samuel 3:19). Don't let a single word from the Lord fail to bring adjustments in your life. Then God will do in you and through you everything He says to you.
Luke 8:5-15 is the parable of the sower and the seeds. The seed that fell on the good soil represented those who heard the word of God, retained it, and produced fruit. Jesus said, "Therefore take heed how you hear. For whoever has, to him more will be given; and whoever does not have, even what he seems to have will be taken from him" (Luke 8:18).
If you hear the Word of God and do not apply it to produce fruit in your life, even what you think you have will be taken away. Be careful how you listen to God! Make up your mind now that when the Spirit of God speaks to you, you are going to do what He says.

God always has a purpose when he speaks! Most of the time we are just looking for some devotional thought to make us feel good all day. But God wants to reveal what he is doing, and we need to be ready for Him to reveal what He is doing where we are. In Scripture, God doesn't just go to people for conversation's sake. He is always up to something, He always has a purpose. When God speaks to you through the Bible, prayer, circumstances, the church, or in some other way, He has a purpose in mind for your life.
When God spoke to Abram (Genesis 12), what was God about to do? He was about to begin building a nation. Notice the timing of God. Why did God speak to Abram when He did? Because it was then that God wanted to start to build a nation. The moment Abram knew what God was about to do, he had to make an adjustment in his life to God. He had to follow immediately what God said.
It's all about timing. When God speaks to you, that is the moment He wants you to respond! It's God's timing not ours! He speaks to His servant when He is ready to move. Otherwise He wouldn't speak. When God speaks to you, you need to believe and trust God. When God speaks to you, you must respond immediately by adjusting your life to Him, His purposes, and His ways. The moment God speaks is God's timing.

When God speaks, will you respond?

Next post: Last part of Reality #5

In Christ,

David