"Living Uninterrupted"

"What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?"  1 Corinthians 6:19

We like to live life on our own terms.  We have our own way of doing things and don't want anything to interfere with it.  We have our own schedule and don't want anything messing it up.  We have our own agenda and don't want anything to get in the way of it.  We have plans and tend to get bent out of shape when something disrupts them.  Our motto should be:  Don't interrupt me.

Does this describe you?  I have to be honest and say that it does me.  I may have my day planned out and the next thing I know it has been completely interrupted by unexpected situations that arise, phone calls, someone needing my assistance, something mechanical tears up and needs my attention or I am pulled away by something beyond my control.  (This actually happens a lot-- daily.)

Our lives are not nice, neat little packages to be lived by our own dictates and terms.  Life is often full of interruptions.  I can't help but believe that sometimes those interruptions are allowed by God to get us refocused off of self. 

When interruptions come and they send me in a different direction than I had planned, I have to remind myself that my steps are ordered by the Lord.  My life is surrendered to Him which means it is to be lived for Him and His plans, not my own.  Therefore, what will I do with the interruptions?  Will I let them make me angry, frustrated or annoyed?  Or will I let them show me how self-centered and selfish my life really is?  Will I let them show me the truth about just how flexible, or unmovable, in my own will and own terms I am?  Will I let them teach me how to be more yielded to the will of the Lord, should He decide to change my agenda and schedule today? 

Have a great day.  Are you living life on your own terms?             
 

"Is Your Name In The Book?"

"And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."  Revelation 20:14

When all is said and done, when this life is over, when the end of the world as we know it has come, there is only one thing that is going to matter.  Is your name in the Book of Life?

We will ALL stand one day before the Lord God, the Creator of heaven and earth, the Eternal King and Almighty God, and He will open the Book of Life and see if your name is in it.  That will be the one thing He is looking for.  That will be your only defense.  It will be your only hope at that moment. 

Is your name there?  Again, that will be all that matters on that day.  It won't matter how often you went to church or whether you were a member of a church.  It won't matter if you sang in the choir, taught a Sunday School class, gave offerings to missionaries or even pastored a church.  It won't matter how much money you made, how popular you were, what type of education you had, how many degrees you had before or behind your name.  It won't matter if you were the ruler of a nation, an Emmy Award winner, produced million-dollar movies, or were the most famous person in the world.  It won't matter how good you were.  It won't matter that you never cheated anyone or on anyone.  It won't matter how talented you were.  It won't matter that you were a hero and saved lives, or feed the hungry, or clothed the naked, or ministered to the poor.  It won't matter that you rallied for a cause, protected the environment or fought for human rights.  None of this will matter on that day.  The Lord will be looking for one thing, and one thing only--- is your name in the Book of Life!

If it isn't there then, it will be too late.  You will be cast into the lake of fire to burn, but not burn up, forever and ever.  If it is not there now, it can be.  While you are still alive, you still have a chance to get it there.  Turn to the Lord Jesus Christ in repentance of your sins.  Acknowledge His saving grace that came through His death on the cross and follow Him from this day forth.  Then when you stand before the Lord, He will find your name, and instead of being cast into the lake of fire forever you will hear Him say, "Well done, good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy lord.  Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world."  (Matthew 25:23,34)

Have a great day.  The only thing that matters is if your name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life.  Is it?
 

"How God Sees You"

"Therefore hath the Lord recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight."  Psalm 18:24

"In His eyesight".  It is about how God sees us.  It is not about how we see ourselves.  It is not about how others see us.  Others saw Gideon as a coward, but God saw him as a mighty man of valor.  Others saw Mary as just a young girl, but God saw her as a highly favored vessel to bear His Son.  Others saw Jacob as a deceiver, but God saw him as a prince.  Joseph's family saw him as a dreamer, but God saw him as a savior of His people.  Some saw Moses as a murderer with a speech problem, but God saw him as a leader.  Christians in the early church saw Saul/Paul as a persecutor, but God saw him as a fit vessel to carry the gospel to the world.  Others saw David as just a shepherd boy (even his family), but God saw a king. 

People may see you as worthless-- you may see yourself as worthless.  Some may see you as never amounting to anything.  Some may see you as just another fanatic.  Some may see you as an ordinary housewife.  Some may see you as too young to do anything for God.  Let me repeat myself-- it is about how God sees us.

God has a plan for each and every one of us.  His plan is not necessarily your plan or someone else's plan for you.  Regardless of how you see yourself, God works with you-- if you'll let Him-- to make you into the person He desires you to be and desires to fulfill His plan through. 

What others saw about each one of the people that were mentioned above was correct in the natural sense and from all physical appearances.  But God sees things differently.  He sees us from His perspective.  He sees us as we shall be.  He sees the finished product of a man or woman, boy or girl, who will surrender themselves to His plan.  He sees us through the righteousness of His own Son.  What He sees, and says, about us/you are more correct than what you or anyone else does. 

Have a great day.  It is about how God sees you that is important. 

"Living For Self"

"And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again."  2 Corinthians 5:15

 "That they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves."  Do you profess to be a Christian?  Then who are you living for?  Are you living your life for the Lord?  Are you living it for your own self?  They say, "The proof is in the pudding."  The proof of your profession-- whether it is true or not-- is in the way you live your life.  Or better yet, who you live your life for.

Christianity is about living for and to the Lord and dying to self.  It is about being a "living sacrifice".  Jesus' message was "follow Me".  Not "follow self".  It wasn't follow your own lusts, desires, plans, rules and wishes.  It was follow His life, His will, His leading, His guidance and His plan. 

"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." (Galatians 2:20)  This verse pretty much sums it up.  It is Christ who is living in and through us.  Our lives are to be dead to self and alive in Him.  It is His life that is to be reflected in us.  If not, our profession is not only false, but an injustice to who He is and a hindrance to others.  No wonder people are so confused about Christianity-- they hear one thing and see another.      

So, what are you saying and what are you doing?  Does your life line up with your profession?  Are you dead or alive to self?  Are you letting Him live through you?  Don't you know that you are a temple-- a vessel that He lives and dwells in?  Is He truly living there?  Is it evident that He is living there because He is the One who is being seen?

Have a great day.  Are you living for the Lord or self?  Are you dead to self and alive to Him?

For further reading:
Matthew 16:24
Romans 12:1
1 Corinthians 6:19

"It's Not About The Wheel"

"Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?"  Romans 9:21

In order for a potter to make a vessel of any sort, he has to put the clay on the potter's wheel. I heard a minister make the statement that has given me a new understanding of the whole process of being on the potter's wheel.  He said, "It is not about the wheel.  It is about the clay." 

What is the wheel? The wheel is the circumstances, difficulties, trials and problems that we go through.  I thought about the life of Joseph.  His "wheel" was the pit, then it was Potiphar's house, next it was the prison.  But what Joseph was going through was not about the "wheel"-- it wasn't about his trials.  It was about him-- the clay. 

What he faced, the hardships he endured, the betrayal and hatred of his brothers, the imprisonment, slavery, false accusations, were all just the means/wheel to shape him into the vessel he needed to be in order to fulfill God's divine plan for his life. 

The situations he encountered prepared and transformed him into who he needed to be in order to fulfill his destiny.  Without the "wheel" when he came to the palace, he would have been "unfit" to fulfill that role.  Without the shaping, molding and making he went through on the wheel, he would have taken revenge on his brothers when they came to him for help.  He would have been lifted up with pride because the dreams of the wheat, sun and moon bowing down before him was manifested.  He wouldn't have had the wisdom he needed to put the grain aside.  And so on.

I don't know what you might be going through.  Whatever it is, it is a potter's wheel.  Resist the temptation to focus on the "wheel".  Resist the temptation to be consumed, discouraged and anxious about the wheel.  It is not about the wheel.  It is about the clay.  The clay is you.  It is about God making you and transforming you through your situation into the vessel that He has destined you to be.  Clay is not shaped into a vessel until it goes on the potter's wheel.  We don't become a vessel until we go on the potter's wheel either.  It is there that the graces, Fruit of the Spirit and Christ-like character is produced.

Have a great day.  It is not about the potter's wheel; it is about the transformation of the clay into a fit vessel.