Sometimes God doesn't answer things when we think He should. That only proves that His thoughts are higher than our thoughts (Isaiah 55:8-9).
I have the full capacity to achieve pretty much anything I want. Such as, a guy. LOL.
Yeah we can laugh about it, but this fact really scares me.
That I can possibly walk off God's path for me and create my own.
How did I deserve that right?
Why would it come so easy to me?
God certainly doesn't deserve it from me.
With all that He's done for me, His path should be guided by a barbed wire fence!! But that's just it, His thoughts are higher than mine. I would want to control someone I gave everything to, but God only adds more freedom.
So yeah, I can choose who to marry, I can also have sex tomorrow if I wanted. I am after all a woman, we are crafty. LOL.
Would my choice be the right one? If I chose a man, would we never fight? Who's to say?
I can't see that far into the future. I can't even see the next minute.
What scares me even more than being able to walk off God's path for me, is to be off God's path.
He sees everything. Nothing is hidden from Him (Hebrews 4:13). He created everything I see, everything I touch, every emotion I feel, every breath, every pore, every hair, every tear.
He knows my future (Jeremiah 29:11).
I don't.
To walk away from that, to be alone, nearsighted, blind, with no one to guide me, left to my own self...I know what I'm capable of, I know how quickly I can mess things up, I know the pain I can inflict on myself. Who knows what kind of state I'd be in after just one night left all to myself, my flesh, my desires, my temptations...left to fight them all alone.
I'd be tired, weak, scared, helpless.
Who would want me then?
I can feel a hole in my stomach arising just thinking about it.
But lo and behold...He let's me choose.
The way of God is uncertain in my own eyes. I'd have to follow His steps and stay under His wing while others choose what their whims desire. I'd have to listen to God because He knows the way and I don't.
Then there could be my path...I'd get to choose what to do and where to go. I wouldn't have to follow anyone.
But then, what if there's a sharp curve? There wouldn't be any signs or warnings, I could crash. And what if storms come? Could I build a shelter quick enough? What if the man I choose leaves? Then what?
Would it be so bad to just walk with God and resist temptations? After all, He will always be there to help and guide me.
Is the "me path" really worth the risk if I end up worse than I am now?
Is the "freedom to choose" an invitation to go my own way or is the real freedom in staying on God's path?
Is this life about "me", or where I'm going? God has already told me where His path leads, and I want to go there. So is it really that important to "be my own person" or to "make a name for myself"?
What about after this life? What if I can't choose anymore? What if I'm done for?! What if God's path is the only way to the place I want to go?
How can I be sure I get there?
WAIT, I already answered it!
God's path.
He sees ahead, He will protect me, He'll be my shelter, He'll plan my future, He will guide me to that place. I don't have to be certain. I'm certain He knows! I'm certain He's the only way! I'm certain He knows what is good for me! And I'm certain He knows my heart.
Because He created it.
You may think that God doesn't care about you. You may wonder why you are going through the things you are. Chances are, you may have wonder off His path and made a decision He didn't want you to. But even if that's the case, God is always ready for you to come back. If you trust Him, that He knows what is good for you, then He will bring good to you (Romans 8:28). It may not come the way you think it should, but you have to trust Him. Stay on His path. Let Him worry about the curves and bumps, and you just worry about following Him. He knows the way. You don't have to be unsure anymore. BE SURE who you are following. He won't disappoint you. Because even when storms come, they well bless you, because NOTHING can separate you from God (Romans 8:38-39). If you are tired of fighting and getting no where...maybe you are fighting on the wrong battle field. Maybe it is time to Armor up (Ephesians 6:14-17) and join the fight against the enemy and not against flesh and blood (Ephesians 6:12).
God created you, He has plans for you and they are good. You have to trust that. But the only way for you to experience His good plans, is for you to choose His path.
Will you?
Friday, September 28, 2012
Wednesday, September 19, 2012
Obedience (Part Two)
If you look up the word "obedience" it brings up Hitler and peer pressure. This however I don't see applies to the obedience God talks about.
God's Word is like a lifetime of discoveries, trials, lessons and realizations, all laid out for us to read and learn about. I don't think there is any degree that could give you the knowledge the Bible does. You not only learn from God's message, but the lives of so many others who have gone before us. It is the most reliable history book out there. But, being a christian, I don't look at it as a history book. It is so much more. It's thousands of "family dinner table talks", it's a whole bunch of parent wisdom, it's one man who fulfills my romantic dreams.
The problem is, we treat the Bible like something we must read lest we be struck down or not wake in the morning. That's ridiculous.
How can we change the way we look at the Bible? How about changing the way we look at obedience to God?
Come on, everyone knows the strike down message I mentioned. If God truly struck down people for their sin, or lack of obedience, none of us would be alive! Besides, He wouldn't have needed to send Jesus to save SINNERS. Right?
I'm here to share my thoughts and study on the subject of obedience.
First, I'd like to point out that EVERYONE sins. Even Christians. Nothing will be perfect until Heaven. "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the Truth is not in us." 1 John 1:8
I struggle with sin. Mostly, the sin of my pride and trying to do things on my own and not waiting for God. That sin has had it's consequences. I'm being honest about this. I STINK at waiting on the Lord, I get so frustrated that He doesn't do things when I want Him to, lol. Don't I sound like an annoying complainer?! Then I get frustrated at myself that I'm NOT being patient. So, then I get stressed. It is really not good for me. But God is teaching me to rely on Him. Maybe one day I'll get it, I'm still young, I can get it one day...but I'll keep trying :)
I have to say, I FEEL ALONE IN CONFESSING MY SIN. That's sad. We shouldn't be hiding this stuff. We need to EXPOSE it, get embarrassed and get better! "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" 1 John 1:9 He WILL purify us from unrighteousness, it doesn't say WHEN...just that He will.
Our sin, actually brings GLORY to the message of Jesus. He came to SAVE US from sin...meaning we already had it! "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him, shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him." John 3:16-17 "Very rarely will someone die for a righteous man, though, for a good man someone might possibly die. But God demonstrated His own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:7-8 "If we claim we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar and His word has no place in our lives" 1 John 1:10
So how does this all apply to obedience?...
You may not be able to obey God's Word all the time, but that doesn't mean you don't try.
"If you love Me, obey My commands" John 14:15
Do you love Him?
Does your heart love Him?
"But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean'" Matthew 15:18
"Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart" 1 Samuel 16:7
Why do we think that obedience is by actions? Why are we so convinced that if we DO good, we are "okay"? The first 2 commandments are about our relationship with God. Where He is in our lives. God uses things of the HEART all throughout His word. "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal" Matthew 6:19
I, more than anyone I know, believe the husband should be the head of the household, and the wife should help the husband by up keeping the household in what the husband has set. I do not believe the woman should work UNLESS the house is taken care of. It is the woman's role to bring up the children and the man's role to instruct the children.
But if the man's motive to work is just to make money, he will have nothing to show for it. Money is paper, a thing (see second commandment about "idol's"). The same for a woman. If she is forsaking the care of her children to go pursue "paper". Need I say more?
The issue with what I think, is that because of sin, many men are no longer taking up their role, and things get sooo messy. BUT, if a husband has a job, and the household has children, I don't see a need for a woman to work, other than to pursue "stability" outside of God's provision. Yes, I just said it.
God in essence says "I have given your husband a job. check. I have given you children to care for. check." By a woman working, she adds worry to her husband because she ISN'T caring for the home while he's away...or then he has to leave work early or entirely to care for the children which was her job in the first place AND she is not caring for the children God gave her while she is at work.
Again, because of sin, people want BIG homes and need two incomes to stay in their "wants" (not "needs", God provides those according to His Word), or people sleep with each other before marriage and the man doesn't have time to pursue a stable job, or the household does not trust God to provide their needs each day, instead they would feel better knowing there will be money, rather than trusting. This is not to say that they don't trust God at all. But their hearts are so set on feeling better, that they don't let God have His way... especially if that way is HARD.
This may bring you to fully disagree with me, but I have seen God's blessings and provisions come more to the families whose Mom's stay at home, than for those whose Mom's work. Working Mom's are a lot more stressed because they are trying to live two lives....that of the world (money money money) and that of Lord (being at home). Trying to live both was not God's plan. "Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the Word of God." Titus 2:4-5
Somehow, being at home is now considered boring, lazy and selfish. When the women who I have had the pleasure to know and be counseled by are the happiest and most content, and they have never thought to have any other job but motherhood. And those who struggle with being home or working...are bored at home.
When we settle for the ways of this world, it never satisfies. But the ways of the Lord, when embraced and NOT questioned, they are exciting and fulfilling.
What sort of idol's keep you from obeying the Lord without questioning?
What kind of "wants" have you placed in your life that rob God's plan from your life?
Are there things that you should give up so that you can fully trust the Lord?
I'm going to end with a example:
My father had a heart transplant June 2012. We weren't quite sure how we would pay for things. We weren't really sure what kind of pay he would receive from being out of work.
I sat at the table with my Mom and she told me she had been playing around with the idea of getting a job to help pay for the hospital bills. I have a 7 year old brother. He was being home schooled but because of the situation we had taken a break from school for the time being. A few days later, my Mom shared with me that she had been praying about whether God wanted her to get a job for the time being. My Mom feels the same that I do about mothers working, but she was thinking it might be needed just for now, ya know, until we "get back on our feet". She told me that God told her "I have given you this child, to care for, to teach and to nurture. I have plans for this child in the future. I have not assigned anyone else to care for this child. I have chosen you. And I am able to provide for your needs, if you will do what I have asked of you". My Mom isn't working. She is focused on the task God has called her to. My Dad, doesn't have to worry about my brother. My Dad, is working part-time. He is ABLE to be focused on work, because my Mom is focused on her job! God has gone above and beyond for my family. We are careful with spending. But we NEVER worry about shelter, food or clothing. God has healed my father from 12 years of congestive heart failure, BECAUSE we trusted Him. Our situation is different than what most people may experience, but the Bible is the same, the God we serve is the same, yesterday and today...the same.
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will He not much more cloth you, O you of little faith? So do not worry saying 'what will we eat?' or 'what shall we drink?' or 'what shall we wear?'. For the pagans run after these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of it's own." Matthew 6:25-34
Your job is not to prepare "just in case God doesn't take care of you" your job is to obey God knowing He will take care of you.
What kind of things do you need to trust God more on?
Is money a priority? Or is obedience to God?
Do you trust God will meet your needs, even if it isn't by YOUR DOING?
That IS obedience. This IS faith.
(I know this is a difficult subject these days, but I don't think it needs to be. God is the same. And if you are His child, He will take care of you! SEEK HIM, FIRST!)
God's Word is like a lifetime of discoveries, trials, lessons and realizations, all laid out for us to read and learn about. I don't think there is any degree that could give you the knowledge the Bible does. You not only learn from God's message, but the lives of so many others who have gone before us. It is the most reliable history book out there. But, being a christian, I don't look at it as a history book. It is so much more. It's thousands of "family dinner table talks", it's a whole bunch of parent wisdom, it's one man who fulfills my romantic dreams.
The problem is, we treat the Bible like something we must read lest we be struck down or not wake in the morning. That's ridiculous.
How can we change the way we look at the Bible? How about changing the way we look at obedience to God?
Come on, everyone knows the strike down message I mentioned. If God truly struck down people for their sin, or lack of obedience, none of us would be alive! Besides, He wouldn't have needed to send Jesus to save SINNERS. Right?
I'm here to share my thoughts and study on the subject of obedience.
First, I'd like to point out that EVERYONE sins. Even Christians. Nothing will be perfect until Heaven. "If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the Truth is not in us." 1 John 1:8
I struggle with sin. Mostly, the sin of my pride and trying to do things on my own and not waiting for God. That sin has had it's consequences. I'm being honest about this. I STINK at waiting on the Lord, I get so frustrated that He doesn't do things when I want Him to, lol. Don't I sound like an annoying complainer?! Then I get frustrated at myself that I'm NOT being patient. So, then I get stressed. It is really not good for me. But God is teaching me to rely on Him. Maybe one day I'll get it, I'm still young, I can get it one day...but I'll keep trying :)
I have to say, I FEEL ALONE IN CONFESSING MY SIN. That's sad. We shouldn't be hiding this stuff. We need to EXPOSE it, get embarrassed and get better! "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness" 1 John 1:9 He WILL purify us from unrighteousness, it doesn't say WHEN...just that He will.
Our sin, actually brings GLORY to the message of Jesus. He came to SAVE US from sin...meaning we already had it! "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him, shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him." John 3:16-17 "Very rarely will someone die for a righteous man, though, for a good man someone might possibly die. But God demonstrated His own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." Romans 5:7-8 "If we claim we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar and His word has no place in our lives" 1 John 1:10
So how does this all apply to obedience?...
You may not be able to obey God's Word all the time, but that doesn't mean you don't try.
"If you love Me, obey My commands" John 14:15
Do you love Him?
Does your heart love Him?
"But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man 'unclean'" Matthew 15:18
"Man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart" 1 Samuel 16:7
Why do we think that obedience is by actions? Why are we so convinced that if we DO good, we are "okay"? The first 2 commandments are about our relationship with God. Where He is in our lives. God uses things of the HEART all throughout His word. "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal" Matthew 6:19
I, more than anyone I know, believe the husband should be the head of the household, and the wife should help the husband by up keeping the household in what the husband has set. I do not believe the woman should work UNLESS the house is taken care of. It is the woman's role to bring up the children and the man's role to instruct the children.
But if the man's motive to work is just to make money, he will have nothing to show for it. Money is paper, a thing (see second commandment about "idol's"). The same for a woman. If she is forsaking the care of her children to go pursue "paper". Need I say more?
The issue with what I think, is that because of sin, many men are no longer taking up their role, and things get sooo messy. BUT, if a husband has a job, and the household has children, I don't see a need for a woman to work, other than to pursue "stability" outside of God's provision. Yes, I just said it.
God in essence says "I have given your husband a job. check. I have given you children to care for. check." By a woman working, she adds worry to her husband because she ISN'T caring for the home while he's away...or then he has to leave work early or entirely to care for the children which was her job in the first place AND she is not caring for the children God gave her while she is at work.
Again, because of sin, people want BIG homes and need two incomes to stay in their "wants" (not "needs", God provides those according to His Word), or people sleep with each other before marriage and the man doesn't have time to pursue a stable job, or the household does not trust God to provide their needs each day, instead they would feel better knowing there will be money, rather than trusting. This is not to say that they don't trust God at all. But their hearts are so set on feeling better, that they don't let God have His way... especially if that way is HARD.
This may bring you to fully disagree with me, but I have seen God's blessings and provisions come more to the families whose Mom's stay at home, than for those whose Mom's work. Working Mom's are a lot more stressed because they are trying to live two lives....that of the world (money money money) and that of Lord (being at home). Trying to live both was not God's plan. "Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the Word of God." Titus 2:4-5
Somehow, being at home is now considered boring, lazy and selfish. When the women who I have had the pleasure to know and be counseled by are the happiest and most content, and they have never thought to have any other job but motherhood. And those who struggle with being home or working...are bored at home.
When we settle for the ways of this world, it never satisfies. But the ways of the Lord, when embraced and NOT questioned, they are exciting and fulfilling.
What sort of idol's keep you from obeying the Lord without questioning?
What kind of "wants" have you placed in your life that rob God's plan from your life?
Are there things that you should give up so that you can fully trust the Lord?
I'm going to end with a example:
My father had a heart transplant June 2012. We weren't quite sure how we would pay for things. We weren't really sure what kind of pay he would receive from being out of work.
I sat at the table with my Mom and she told me she had been playing around with the idea of getting a job to help pay for the hospital bills. I have a 7 year old brother. He was being home schooled but because of the situation we had taken a break from school for the time being. A few days later, my Mom shared with me that she had been praying about whether God wanted her to get a job for the time being. My Mom feels the same that I do about mothers working, but she was thinking it might be needed just for now, ya know, until we "get back on our feet". She told me that God told her "I have given you this child, to care for, to teach and to nurture. I have plans for this child in the future. I have not assigned anyone else to care for this child. I have chosen you. And I am able to provide for your needs, if you will do what I have asked of you". My Mom isn't working. She is focused on the task God has called her to. My Dad, doesn't have to worry about my brother. My Dad, is working part-time. He is ABLE to be focused on work, because my Mom is focused on her job! God has gone above and beyond for my family. We are careful with spending. But we NEVER worry about shelter, food or clothing. God has healed my father from 12 years of congestive heart failure, BECAUSE we trusted Him. Our situation is different than what most people may experience, but the Bible is the same, the God we serve is the same, yesterday and today...the same.
"Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will He not much more cloth you, O you of little faith? So do not worry saying 'what will we eat?' or 'what shall we drink?' or 'what shall we wear?'. For the pagans run after these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore, do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of it's own." Matthew 6:25-34
Your job is not to prepare "just in case God doesn't take care of you" your job is to obey God knowing He will take care of you.
What kind of things do you need to trust God more on?
Is money a priority? Or is obedience to God?
Do you trust God will meet your needs, even if it isn't by YOUR DOING?
That IS obedience. This IS faith.
(I know this is a difficult subject these days, but I don't think it needs to be. God is the same. And if you are His child, He will take care of you! SEEK HIM, FIRST!)
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