I just finished Ecclesiastes and I find it one of the most elusive and strangest books of the Bible. All is vanity!
In a way, that statement offers relief. Sometimes I get this pressure of all I must do and of all I need to become, but in the end, the whole world is vanity. It will soon pass away. I don't think God wants us so much to do, as he does for us to be. For example, consider the stars, they just are! They are what God intended for them to be: expressing His glory & ministering to us as shining lights. They don't try to be the moon or a planet. Take the flower also for an example; how ridiculous would it be for a flower to try to be a tree or a cactus? A flower just is and is beautiful. All it was made to do is to look beautiful, give off a lovely fragrance, and bring happiness to those who behold it.
In the same way, people (& I am the first to admit!) can be striving to be more or other than God intended. Our hearts can be in the right place, but we may put so much pressure on others or ourselves, striving and straining, as if we are of imminent importance to the continuation of good.
"Be still, and know that I [am] God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth."- Psalm 46:10 (basically, with or without you and I, God will be just as exalted).
I think God just wants me to be. To be what He created me to be; to fulfill the purposes unique for my life. A flower just abides: it drinks water and basks in the sun, and blossoms for all to enjoy. The flower perfumes the earth just being what it was made to be, so effortlessly and refreshingly. Like this flower, God wants me to simply abide in Jesus: drinking from His rivers of living water, basking in and reflecting His light, feeding from His words of life. Any more than this and I am striving. Whatever fruit God brings from my life can never come apart from abiding. Simply abide and fruit will be the natural consequence, A flower doesn't have to struggle and strive to be a flower, it simply is and blossoms naturally in its time.
"Be strong and take heart, all you who hope in the LORD."- Psalm 31:24 God will finish the work he started in us and our fruit will be as natural as the shinning of the stars.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
God's "bootcamp"
"Before honor is humility.... a man's gift maketh room for him, and bringeth him before great men."- Proverbs 18
There has been many a time when I have, with tears, gotten on my face before God and each time my heart is a little more changed than before. I want more than anything to glorify God with my life. I want Him to fulfill my created potential. I don't want to die and realize how much more God wanted to do through me, but I limited Him. So, God, have YOUR way! All the Way! You can do whatever you want - even the suffering that I know may come. For those of us who want desperately to be used by God, this entry may be for you.
I have come to realize that obviously, before we can be used, we must first be prepared. And the greater the call, the greater the preparation. So when I give God attitude, or whine, or am impatient (which happens often), then I am telling God (without realizing it) that I don't trust Him and that I really don't want to be used that much. But, ultimately, as time passes by, I see and understand the necessity of God's "bootcamp." How could I be any good for battle if I don't even want to go through bootcamp. If we all had it our way, we would be comfortable & blessed, but also weak & lazy wasters. Through discipline and hardship we are forged courageous and strong. And... though I gave God attitude before, I really do desire to be a courageous and "gnarly" servant of God. I want to be fearless and not regard my own life... as I know, do many of my brothers and sisters.
After the call eventually comes "bootcamp." Do you really want to be used by God for what you were created for? Do you truly want Him to have His way with you? Then be prepared to be stripped of all your preconceived notions, plans, and ... self. God will strip you to humility. All your self efforts will be shaken out and revealed pathetic. The things you thought, will turn out to be... not what you thought.
"As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts"- Isaiah 55:9.
I have given up guessing or planning what will come in the future. Only God can know and I don't ever want to place my limitations on Him. Paul could never have known early on that he would eventually bring a new continent the good news of Jesus and that he was going to stand before emperors. How could he have ever guessed these things or planned them? And neither can we. Really, we have only God as our assurance of anything. But, this is actually very exciting. Because God will take you higher and farther than you could ever take yourself (an I am not speaking of the world's measurements).
"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us"- Ephesians 3:20
If God has given you vision for something to come, that is a good thing, but don't be surprised if He goes about it in a way you may never have expected, or if He keeps it a ways off to prepare you first. The "bootcamp" is necessary so we learn absolute dependence and trust in God. Then, when the unexpected comes, we won't be thrown off by it or go into a faith crises, because all our hope and strength rest on Jesus. Nothing can derail us this way. God Himself is already our exceeding great reward and the power at work.
In this generation of servants who wants to be "gnarly" for the Kingdom, I am hearing similar accounts of God preparing and forging us. We are all being stretched, grown, tested, and thrown with loving pride into the refiner's fire. Don't lose heart! Cling to God alone and know in your heart His love for You. Forsake everything else you held dear, forsake all the things you kept a death grip on and exchange them for Christ alone. That is my conclusion. God is everything and He can use us most when we surrender all else for Him.
"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well"- Matthew 6:33.
There is eternal, unfathomable blessing in God's "bootcamp." Prepare yourself for a honey-moon with Him that I KNOW exceeds ANYTHING this world can offer.
"I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God"- Ephesians 3:16-19.
"Greater things have yet to come, Greater things are still to be done...."- Chris Tomlin.
There has been many a time when I have, with tears, gotten on my face before God and each time my heart is a little more changed than before. I want more than anything to glorify God with my life. I want Him to fulfill my created potential. I don't want to die and realize how much more God wanted to do through me, but I limited Him. So, God, have YOUR way! All the Way! You can do whatever you want - even the suffering that I know may come. For those of us who want desperately to be used by God, this entry may be for you.
I have come to realize that obviously, before we can be used, we must first be prepared. And the greater the call, the greater the preparation. So when I give God attitude, or whine, or am impatient (which happens often), then I am telling God (without realizing it) that I don't trust Him and that I really don't want to be used that much. But, ultimately, as time passes by, I see and understand the necessity of God's "bootcamp." How could I be any good for battle if I don't even want to go through bootcamp. If we all had it our way, we would be comfortable & blessed, but also weak & lazy wasters. Through discipline and hardship we are forged courageous and strong. And... though I gave God attitude before, I really do desire to be a courageous and "gnarly" servant of God. I want to be fearless and not regard my own life... as I know, do many of my brothers and sisters.
After the call eventually comes "bootcamp." Do you really want to be used by God for what you were created for? Do you truly want Him to have His way with you? Then be prepared to be stripped of all your preconceived notions, plans, and ... self. God will strip you to humility. All your self efforts will be shaken out and revealed pathetic. The things you thought, will turn out to be... not what you thought.
"As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts"- Isaiah 55:9.
I have given up guessing or planning what will come in the future. Only God can know and I don't ever want to place my limitations on Him. Paul could never have known early on that he would eventually bring a new continent the good news of Jesus and that he was going to stand before emperors. How could he have ever guessed these things or planned them? And neither can we. Really, we have only God as our assurance of anything. But, this is actually very exciting. Because God will take you higher and farther than you could ever take yourself (an I am not speaking of the world's measurements).
"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us"- Ephesians 3:20
If God has given you vision for something to come, that is a good thing, but don't be surprised if He goes about it in a way you may never have expected, or if He keeps it a ways off to prepare you first. The "bootcamp" is necessary so we learn absolute dependence and trust in God. Then, when the unexpected comes, we won't be thrown off by it or go into a faith crises, because all our hope and strength rest on Jesus. Nothing can derail us this way. God Himself is already our exceeding great reward and the power at work.
In this generation of servants who wants to be "gnarly" for the Kingdom, I am hearing similar accounts of God preparing and forging us. We are all being stretched, grown, tested, and thrown with loving pride into the refiner's fire. Don't lose heart! Cling to God alone and know in your heart His love for You. Forsake everything else you held dear, forsake all the things you kept a death grip on and exchange them for Christ alone. That is my conclusion. God is everything and He can use us most when we surrender all else for Him.
"But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well"- Matthew 6:33.
There is eternal, unfathomable blessing in God's "bootcamp." Prepare yourself for a honey-moon with Him that I KNOW exceeds ANYTHING this world can offer.
"I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God"- Ephesians 3:16-19.
"Greater things have yet to come, Greater things are still to be done...."- Chris Tomlin.
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