"Running From God's Word"

"Now the word of the Lord came unto Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it; for their wickedness is come up before me." Jonah 1:1,2

"But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves." (James 1:22) There is more to it than just hearing the word of God. God requires, and desires, that we are doers of what His word says-- after all, there is a reason why He has given us His written word and speaks His word to us by His Spirit.

A lot of people hear God's word. They hear it on Sunday mornings sitting in church services. They hear it if they watch Christian television or listen to Christian radio. They hear it through devotional emails and books. There are many avenues through which they hear it, but hearing it is only half of it. We have to apply it to our lives, and do what it says.

The story of Jonah is a very familiar story to us all. Jonah's problem wasn't that he hadn't heard God's word. His problem was that he had heard it but decided not to do it. God spoke His word clearly to Jonah but instead of being a doer (obeying God's instruction) he disobeyed it. The result was that he wound up in a terrible storm and then in the belly of a whale for three days.

We can't just hear the word and comment about what a good sermon the pastor preached or how it gave us "goose bumps". We have to put it into practice. There is safety in following its instructions. We would be saved from so many grieves and heartaches if we would submit to it-- just ask Jonah.

Perhaps you are saying, "I am not like Jonah, I am not running from doing God's word". If you are hearing it but aren't doing it, then yes you are. It's all the same. Jonah ignored it and did what he wanted to do- which was not go to Nineveh. The reason we ignore and don't apply the teachings of God's word to our lives is because we would rather do what we want to do instead of what God wants us to do. There is no difference.

Have a great day. Hearing the word of God and not doing it is the same thing as running from it.

For further reading:
Jonah 1
Romans 2:7-9
Hebrews 5:9

"Driving In Reverse"

"I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus." Philippians 3:14

Several years ago, I had a dream that I feel led to share with you this morning. I dreamed that I was in a truck. The truck represented God's plan for my life. It wasn't an ordinary pickup truck, and it wasn't a transfer truck. It was more like the size of the delivery trucks that are used by a hardware store to deliver building supplies. I was not the driver of the truck; I was the passenger. The driver was a very popular television interior designer.  You would have thought that since the truck represented God's plan for my life, I would have been the driver, but I wasn't. She was driving, and the really odd thing about it was that she was driving the truck in reverse. She was not driving forward, we were going in reverse down the road all the while having pleasant, casual conversation.

I want to share the meaning now of that dream. During the time when I had it, I have to admit that I was watching a good bit of television. I wasn't watching anything "bad"-- I was watching the home and garden network. I was sitting there for hours sometime watching the designer who was in my dream, and others, makeover rooms and houses. That was the reason the Lord gave me the dream-- He wanted to tell me something. That something was--- I was letting that particular thing take me away from Him. I was letting it "drive" my life and by doing so, I wasn't going forward. Sitting there watching these programs were not bringing me closer to Him, they weren't building my spirit, they weren't helping me develop the ability to discern His voice. In fact, they were actually taking me "away" (in reverse) from Him and fulfilling His call on my life. By spending the majority of my time mindlessly watching those programs, I was letting them influence and control my life. It was keeping me from "pressing forward" in His word and in prayer.

The reason why it was a familiar designer doing the driving in my dream was because the Lord was showing me specifically the area that needed to change. I had to make a choice, was I going to let this "feeding of my flesh" "drive my life"-- which was driving in reverse-- or was I going to get back in the driver seat and go forward. Was I going to let someone, or something, else drive my life? Or was I going to be led by the Spirit and go in the direction that He wants to lead me?

I am not saying that we can't watch a little television from time to time. That wasn't the point. The point was that I was watching too much (even of a good thing) and it was keeping me from going forward with the Lord-- it doesn't have to be television, it can be something else. It was driving my life instead of Him. Is something besides the Lord driving your life? Are you a passenger in your own life? It is one thing to be the passenger when the Lord is the driver, but it is another when outside things, when the lust of your flesh, when the lust of your eyes or the pride of life is doing the driving. When they are, you will continue to go in reverse and by going in reverse, you will never reach God's intended destination for you.

Have a great day. Are you letting someone else be the driver of your life? If so, you are going in reverse.

For further reading:
Hebrews 12:1
Exodus 20:3
1 John 5:21; 2:15-17

"He Is He"

"So, God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them." Genesis 1:27

A little over a week ago, I sent out a Coffee Break devotional entitled, "Tiny Prayers To A Great Big God".  One of my email brothers in the Lord replied and asked me to look at what I had written in one of the paragraphs and rephrase it.  At first, I didn't catch the error, but when he pointed it out.  I saw it immediately. What I had written was-- "I also think that we forget Who it really is that we are praying to."  Did you catch it?

What needed to be corrected was the use of the word "it" in referring to God. He is certainly not an "it".  He is not a "thing".  He is not a physical object that is made out of wood, stone, metal, etc.  He is not an idol that we bow down to or transport around with us wherever we go.  He is not a statue.  He is not a relic we have placed in the closet.  He is not a vapor, or some inanimate force.  The Lord God is a Person!   

When we say that God is a person, we don't mean that He is a human being. We mean that He has a personal nature. He is The Living God.  So, the correct way to describe Him is not with the pronoun "it" but "He". Aren't you glad that He is a personal God and not just some object of worship!

Have a great day.  When addressing God, He is not an "it".  He is a "He".

 

"What Are You Doing?"

"And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!" Luke 15:17

You all know the story of the young man in the verse above. His first step out of where he was (the pigpen) came when he finally asked himself, "What am I doing?" If you are a child of God through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, I would like to ask you the same thing.

What are you doing living in guilt and condemnation when God does not condemn you? What are you doing living in defeat when Jesus has already won the victory on your behalf? What are you doing living as the tail when you are the head? What are you doing carrying that heavy burden when the burden of the Lord is light? What are you doing living in fear when Jesus has given you His peace? What are you doing spending your time worrying when God has already made provision for all that you need? What are you doing living on the bottom when God has promoted you to the top? What are you doing letting the  enemy beat you up when Jesus has already destroyed his power over you?

In the story the son was willing to just be a servant in his father's house, but the father restored him to the place of a son. When we put our faith and trust in Jesus as Savior and Lord, we become children of God. We don't only become servants, we become sons/daughters. As children there are certain rights and privileges that He has given us. We are to be living like children. So what are you doing living below the status of a child? This young man was a son because he was born to the father. When we are born again, we are born to the Heavenly Father. When the young man rebelled against the father, repented and then returned home, the father put him back into the place of a son. That means the father expected him to live like a son from now on. Our Heavenly Father created us to be His children and then restored us when we fell back to the place of a child. He too expects us to live like children. So, what you are doing by living less than His child?

Have a great day. If you are a born-again child of God, what are you doing living like you aren't His child?

For further reading:
Romans 8:1
Psalm 98:1
1 Corinthians 15:57
1 John 5:4
Matthew 11:30
John 14:27
Philippians 4:19

"We Aren't That Smart"

"In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths." Proverbs 3:6

In our opening scripture we are told to acknowledge the Lord in all our ways. Now, I don't know about you, but when I read the word "all", I take it literally- that means that I believe it really means "all". I have had people tell me that you don't have to acknowledge God in everything (all). You don't have to ask Him about small things. They contend that He gave us a brain to think for ourselves so that is what we should do-- think for ourselves. Seems to me that "thinking for ourselves" is what got the human race in trouble in the first place. Adam was a perfect man, filled with knowledge beyond our wildest imagine-- after all, he named all the animals-- but when he leaned to his own understanding about the tree that the Lord forbid them to eat from, his "intellect" proved to not be very smart.

I learned a long time ago that God says what He means and means what He says. There was a reason why He said, "all", instead of "some" of your ways or "most" of your ways. Acknowledging Him in all our ways may seem foolish, but if we would do it, it would save us a lot of heartache, grief, unnecessary pain, we would make better choices and decisions, and we would find that things would go a whole lot better for us in the long run.

We are told that there is a way that seems right to a man, but the end leads to death. In other words, in our human understanding of certain situations, it may seem right, but it could kill you! Not wanting to acknowledge the Lord in all our ways boils down to being a pride issue.

We don't know better what to do than the Lord does-- even in the smallest problem. We need His help. We need Him to direct our paths. We need Him to show us what to do. Have you ever been around little children who "know everything". Everything you try to tell them--- "I know". Or when you try to help them--- "I can do it". You know they don't know and you know they can't do it. I think we act like that toward our heavenly Father as well. We think we know everything, can do everything and have everything under control when we really don't. And He knows we don't, but He waits patiently for us to decide that we can't do it and then turn to Him. And once we do, He is right there ready to help us.

Have a great day. We might as well admit that we don't know as much as we think we do and that God does!

For further reading:
Proverbs 16:25; 14:12
Psalms 37:23
Jeremiah 10:23