Let The Truth Be Told...
Today a non-scripture laden post in favor of just us chatting with each other...
There are many times where we as Christians run low on our faith. There are many times when we as people even question if God is actually out there looking out for us and actually listening to us. I've been there too and trust me it is not an easy feeling. Many times when we are going through a storm it seems that no matter how much we pray, fast or praise and worship the answers don't seem to be flowing from Heaven and nor does the relief of our struggles. Many times we get to the end of our ropes and hold on by a ripping fiber ready to plunge into the abyss and wonder "Why aren't you listening God? Don't you see that I am about to die???"
The truth be told? God is listening and He is caring and He is for you and not against you. It seems hard because we expect the Heavenly Hosts to swoop in with 10,000 angels and the Hand of God pointing two fingers at you saying "Thou art free now!" with a descending dove and rainbow with the Heavenly choir singing the Hallelujah Chorus every time we pray and cry and ask God for help... Doesn't always work that way... We've always heard the old statement "God will put no more on you than you can bear", but honestly... Why do we feel that we have been broken down and can't get up??? There is an answer...
It doesn't seem to make sense, but God is purging us by allowing things to happen to us to draw us closer to Him. Sound crazy? Yes. Effective? If we respond correctly. I feel that because God is not seen, but felt when we allow Him to the rules of getting us to realize that He's real are different. Adam walked with God in the Garden when mankind was in perfect communion with God, but after Adam sinned that was lost and the true wilderness that the Bible talks about was not the great deserts, but not to have that communion with our Savior. When we sinned we broke that connection as we have to fight to get it back through the Holy Spirit, but we have to be as free from sin and have a relationship with God that is similar to what Adam had when God would visit every day for personal time with His creation.
We have short memories and we don't appreciate things that don't tickle our senses. If we could see God and see Him walk with us and talk with us our whole Christian life would be very much different. However, because sin and the adversary has not been punished and removed from existence yet we have to live in this time for us to redeem ourselves back to God and be what He has intended from the beginning: a personal relationship with Him and only Him. So often we seek refuge in religion, principles, other people and things that God stands there waiting for us to acknowledge the fact that the breath we take in is not our own and that we have NOTHING to do with our existence, but we say "This is my life" or "I'm going to do what I want to do!" forgetting that God has our lives in His hands and can extinguish them as fast as He created them!
Trials come to draw us closer to God. Does it seem fair? No. Think about this for a moment... When God gave Adam everything and provided for Him and let Him see Him in the Garden every day for personal time and even gave Adam a companion that came from himself to then disobey the God he knew first for the woman that was made second don't you think that God has every right to be upset with us yet still love us? True, Eve was deceived, but Adam also failed to take her with Him to meet with God that evening, but that's another blog for another day... We chose to follow another person versus the source of all life in the universe! Now that the communion has been lost we don't want to go through anything at all and we just want to coast through life and die while everything is happy. Why would we need a God that we cannot see if life was a bed of roses?
God wants us to reach out to Him even when we can’t see Him. When we have an emergency we pick up the phone and dial "911" and the dispatcher responds to our situation. Can you see them? No. You can hear them right? Yes. Can they send help to you EVEN IF they don't respond to you? YES! There are times when we call 911 and can't say a word help will be sent based on your address of a landline or GPS location of your cell phone. Does help always arrive when you think it should get there? No. It never does... help can never come fast enough... Let's look at this through some reality glasses...
When we get in a situation that we can no longer handle I don't care who you are or what religion or non-religion you are 99% of folks will say something like "God help us!" or "Oh my God!" Interesting? Yes. We have a built in knowledge that God exists, but we can choose to ignore it or grow it. Then we call for help to what we know will make things alright. As Christians we begin praying and asking God for help which is similar to calling 911. How fast help gets there depends on:
1. How far do you live from the emergency service providers.
2. How reliable the equipment and vehicles are of the responders.
3. What obstacles must they overcome to travel to get to you.
4. Are you located in a standard area of service or a remote one.
5. Did you provide the right information.
Let's review...
1. How far away you are from help has a spiritual connection in my mind. Where are you in God? True, God hears and responds to us all in one way or another whether we like it or not. Many times in our lives God is trying to get us to bridge the gaps that we may have between Him and us and until we bridge those gaps we are far from Him. We have to remember that God answers and responds in His own time, but we have to implicitly trust Him with all of our heart and know that no matter the outcome He has our best interests at heart.
2. How reliable are the responders? Good question! God (as stated above) doesn't always respond with spiritual or supernatural answers, but uses another person or thing to provide the help we need. However, God will give a message to someone to deliver or help to bring, but if that person doesn't heed the call in time or doesn't believe it at all and refuses to (see Jonah) lives could be altered forever. Not saying that God is depending solely on us to be His hands and feet in the world, but many times He will intertwine your struggle with someone else’s struggle and you need each other to come out together. It's just a thought...
3. What obstacles must they overcome? Remember Daniel prayed to God for an answer and it was held up for 21 days? God sent the answer immediately, but the angel was held up by the adversary and fought until it arrived. Sound familiar? Many times God will put things in motion for us and it will arrive just in the nick of time. Just like ambulances get stuck in traffic, have vehicle problems, etc. there can be delays, but God is STILL always on time!
4. Are we in a remote area or in a standard area? In our lives are we in sin or are we in God's graces, but we need to increase our faith? Many times when we are in sin we pray to God to rescue us, but we don't repent of the sin. We cry and snot, praise and worship, fast and pray and nothing happens. Why? Because God needs us to give up those things that cause us not to be in communion with Him. So if we are involved with anything that offends God and it is written that we shouldn't do it and we won't give it up don't expect God to "Bless a Mess". He sympathizes and is compassionate, but He many times He will refuse to change our situations until we come clean and repent of the sin or situation that is hindering us from Him. It’s like crashing a car in the woods, but if someone drags you to the highway the ambulance can help you faster.
5. Did we provide the right information? Many times we pray for things and we are not specific. God answers prayers based on faith and our requests. If we really don't know what we want we will not get what we expect. Pray in specifics and pray with sincerity. We are allowed to come boldly, but respectfully, to God and let Him know our struggles and what we need in this life. If it's in His will that you get it or get out of trouble it will happen in HIS time!
One more thing... our testimonies... They help others who are going through to see that God is there and that He answers our prayers and that He can do what no one else can do. It never seems fair that we have to go through so much and nearly perish just so that someone else can be helped, but think about it... It's really all about God getting the Glory isn't it? God always rewards us for our troubles... ask Job! We have to endure and go THROUGH a situation and not sit, pout and try to dance around it!
Psalm 23 is one of my favorites because of this one thing: "Yea though I walk through the shadow of death I will fear no evil" Why? Easy... Yes, death may be behind you, but the truth is you wouldn't know it unless The Light was around you to cast the shadow! God is always with us even in the presence of "death" so today rest assured that no how big your problem is God will handle it in the way that He knows is best for you! Run to Jesus first and all others second... Trust me... it's so worth it when you not just run to Him, but stay a while and let God minister to you and comfort you. It's about RELATIONSHIP with God and not RELIGION so once you connect with Jesus don't wander away again, but draw closer to Him so that we can stay even closer to the light when the shadows come!
I implore anyone who is not saved or sure of where you will spend eternity please ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins and that you wish Him to be the Lord of your life. No matter what you've done and no matter what you've been you are forgivable and Jesus will accept you back as His own. We all have to come to Jesus as broken and flawed as we are because He knows this and still loves us! No sinner's prayer and no pomp and circumstance. Just a one-to-one conversation with Jesus. Find a church that is focused on the Bible and not religion and then begin to read that same Bible like your life depended on it. Trust me, if you really want Jesus to live in and through you He will do just that.
There are many times where we as Christians run low on our faith. There are many times when we as people even question if God is actually out there looking out for us and actually listening to us. I've been there too and trust me it is not an easy feeling. Many times when we are going through a storm it seems that no matter how much we pray, fast or praise and worship the answers don't seem to be flowing from Heaven and nor does the relief of our struggles. Many times we get to the end of our ropes and hold on by a ripping fiber ready to plunge into the abyss and wonder "Why aren't you listening God? Don't you see that I am about to die???"
The truth be told? God is listening and He is caring and He is for you and not against you. It seems hard because we expect the Heavenly Hosts to swoop in with 10,000 angels and the Hand of God pointing two fingers at you saying "Thou art free now!" with a descending dove and rainbow with the Heavenly choir singing the Hallelujah Chorus every time we pray and cry and ask God for help... Doesn't always work that way... We've always heard the old statement "God will put no more on you than you can bear", but honestly... Why do we feel that we have been broken down and can't get up??? There is an answer...
It doesn't seem to make sense, but God is purging us by allowing things to happen to us to draw us closer to Him. Sound crazy? Yes. Effective? If we respond correctly. I feel that because God is not seen, but felt when we allow Him to the rules of getting us to realize that He's real are different. Adam walked with God in the Garden when mankind was in perfect communion with God, but after Adam sinned that was lost and the true wilderness that the Bible talks about was not the great deserts, but not to have that communion with our Savior. When we sinned we broke that connection as we have to fight to get it back through the Holy Spirit, but we have to be as free from sin and have a relationship with God that is similar to what Adam had when God would visit every day for personal time with His creation.
We have short memories and we don't appreciate things that don't tickle our senses. If we could see God and see Him walk with us and talk with us our whole Christian life would be very much different. However, because sin and the adversary has not been punished and removed from existence yet we have to live in this time for us to redeem ourselves back to God and be what He has intended from the beginning: a personal relationship with Him and only Him. So often we seek refuge in religion, principles, other people and things that God stands there waiting for us to acknowledge the fact that the breath we take in is not our own and that we have NOTHING to do with our existence, but we say "This is my life" or "I'm going to do what I want to do!" forgetting that God has our lives in His hands and can extinguish them as fast as He created them!
Trials come to draw us closer to God. Does it seem fair? No. Think about this for a moment... When God gave Adam everything and provided for Him and let Him see Him in the Garden every day for personal time and even gave Adam a companion that came from himself to then disobey the God he knew first for the woman that was made second don't you think that God has every right to be upset with us yet still love us? True, Eve was deceived, but Adam also failed to take her with Him to meet with God that evening, but that's another blog for another day... We chose to follow another person versus the source of all life in the universe! Now that the communion has been lost we don't want to go through anything at all and we just want to coast through life and die while everything is happy. Why would we need a God that we cannot see if life was a bed of roses?
God wants us to reach out to Him even when we can’t see Him. When we have an emergency we pick up the phone and dial "911" and the dispatcher responds to our situation. Can you see them? No. You can hear them right? Yes. Can they send help to you EVEN IF they don't respond to you? YES! There are times when we call 911 and can't say a word help will be sent based on your address of a landline or GPS location of your cell phone. Does help always arrive when you think it should get there? No. It never does... help can never come fast enough... Let's look at this through some reality glasses...
When we get in a situation that we can no longer handle I don't care who you are or what religion or non-religion you are 99% of folks will say something like "God help us!" or "Oh my God!" Interesting? Yes. We have a built in knowledge that God exists, but we can choose to ignore it or grow it. Then we call for help to what we know will make things alright. As Christians we begin praying and asking God for help which is similar to calling 911. How fast help gets there depends on:
1. How far do you live from the emergency service providers.
2. How reliable the equipment and vehicles are of the responders.
3. What obstacles must they overcome to travel to get to you.
4. Are you located in a standard area of service or a remote one.
5. Did you provide the right information.
Let's review...
1. How far away you are from help has a spiritual connection in my mind. Where are you in God? True, God hears and responds to us all in one way or another whether we like it or not. Many times in our lives God is trying to get us to bridge the gaps that we may have between Him and us and until we bridge those gaps we are far from Him. We have to remember that God answers and responds in His own time, but we have to implicitly trust Him with all of our heart and know that no matter the outcome He has our best interests at heart.
2. How reliable are the responders? Good question! God (as stated above) doesn't always respond with spiritual or supernatural answers, but uses another person or thing to provide the help we need. However, God will give a message to someone to deliver or help to bring, but if that person doesn't heed the call in time or doesn't believe it at all and refuses to (see Jonah) lives could be altered forever. Not saying that God is depending solely on us to be His hands and feet in the world, but many times He will intertwine your struggle with someone else’s struggle and you need each other to come out together. It's just a thought...
3. What obstacles must they overcome? Remember Daniel prayed to God for an answer and it was held up for 21 days? God sent the answer immediately, but the angel was held up by the adversary and fought until it arrived. Sound familiar? Many times God will put things in motion for us and it will arrive just in the nick of time. Just like ambulances get stuck in traffic, have vehicle problems, etc. there can be delays, but God is STILL always on time!
4. Are we in a remote area or in a standard area? In our lives are we in sin or are we in God's graces, but we need to increase our faith? Many times when we are in sin we pray to God to rescue us, but we don't repent of the sin. We cry and snot, praise and worship, fast and pray and nothing happens. Why? Because God needs us to give up those things that cause us not to be in communion with Him. So if we are involved with anything that offends God and it is written that we shouldn't do it and we won't give it up don't expect God to "Bless a Mess". He sympathizes and is compassionate, but He many times He will refuse to change our situations until we come clean and repent of the sin or situation that is hindering us from Him. It’s like crashing a car in the woods, but if someone drags you to the highway the ambulance can help you faster.
5. Did we provide the right information? Many times we pray for things and we are not specific. God answers prayers based on faith and our requests. If we really don't know what we want we will not get what we expect. Pray in specifics and pray with sincerity. We are allowed to come boldly, but respectfully, to God and let Him know our struggles and what we need in this life. If it's in His will that you get it or get out of trouble it will happen in HIS time!
One more thing... our testimonies... They help others who are going through to see that God is there and that He answers our prayers and that He can do what no one else can do. It never seems fair that we have to go through so much and nearly perish just so that someone else can be helped, but think about it... It's really all about God getting the Glory isn't it? God always rewards us for our troubles... ask Job! We have to endure and go THROUGH a situation and not sit, pout and try to dance around it!
Psalm 23 is one of my favorites because of this one thing: "Yea though I walk through the shadow of death I will fear no evil" Why? Easy... Yes, death may be behind you, but the truth is you wouldn't know it unless The Light was around you to cast the shadow! God is always with us even in the presence of "death" so today rest assured that no how big your problem is God will handle it in the way that He knows is best for you! Run to Jesus first and all others second... Trust me... it's so worth it when you not just run to Him, but stay a while and let God minister to you and comfort you. It's about RELATIONSHIP with God and not RELIGION so once you connect with Jesus don't wander away again, but draw closer to Him so that we can stay even closer to the light when the shadows come!
I implore anyone who is not saved or sure of where you will spend eternity please ask Jesus to forgive you of your sins and that you wish Him to be the Lord of your life. No matter what you've done and no matter what you've been you are forgivable and Jesus will accept you back as His own. We all have to come to Jesus as broken and flawed as we are because He knows this and still loves us! No sinner's prayer and no pomp and circumstance. Just a one-to-one conversation with Jesus. Find a church that is focused on the Bible and not religion and then begin to read that same Bible like your life depended on it. Trust me, if you really want Jesus to live in and through you He will do just that.
Comments
Post a Comment