Romans 13:1 “Let every soul be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God.”

We like to think that we had something to do with the people God puts into power. It is our choice, but really it isn’t. Oh, you may have voted a certain way, but the truth is you voted God’s way. God puts people in places of authority, he chooses who he wants for such a time as this. He has always been the chooser of King’s and Queen’s, rulers and presidents. Nothing has changed, He still dictates all the authorities that are in place today. All the way down to judges, priests, pastors etc. It is God’s doing. I am confident of this, is no one showed up to vote somehow God would still get his person in the position of power He desired they be in, He is God, He is Sovereign!

God allows us to participate in the choosing, we vote or do not vote according to our conscience, but our conscience is controlled by a higher authority, the highest authority actually, God, our Father and the one who created us. When people think about God’s Sovereignty they somehow think it stops at us, not really sure why, because by the very word “Sovereign, which means: possessing supreme or ultimate power.” Well, God is the ultimate power!

Having said all of that, I really get upset when I hear people disrespecting the people God has put into power, whether I like them or not, I keep my mouth shut! I may or may not have voted for them, but I see this as my responsibility as a child of God first and as a citizen second. God tells me to be subject to the governing authorities, I am to respect them, obey the laws they hand down. The only time I am given permission to not obey is when man’s law tries to make me disobey God’s law. Then I bow to the highest authority, God.

People today, Christian’s included think they can trash the very ones God has chosen to carry out His agenda on this earth. Just because we do not understand the process, the why of who He chose doesn’t change the fact that He did choose them and He is using them for better or worse, whatever He so desires for this time. We as Christian’s should be the first to show respect to those God has put into office. We should be the leaders in lifting these people first in prayer and also show respect for the office they hold. Yet, I hear Christian’s all the time slamming this person or the next. Personally, I have a healthy fear of the Lord, not in I am afraid of him, but I know that He is God, He is holy and just, He is righteous and perfect in all His ways and He has decided and placed and I need to remember that!

I choose not to talk about politics, I choose not to read emails sent to me slamming some particular person in the office they hold. I just won’t do it! I am not perfect by any means, but when I see that God himself says this is the guy/gal for the job, then I simply watch and pray. WE NEED TO BE VERY VIGILANT TO PRAY FOR THE PEOPLE GOD PUTS INTO OFFICE, WHETHER IT IS OUR PRESIDENT, OUR VICE-PRESIDENT, THE SUPREME COURTS, THE MAYOR OF OUT TOWN WHATEVER EVER, WHOEVER THEY MAY DO AND BE.

We forget that not only are people watching and listening to our behavior, but God himself is watching and listening to us. I think it must sadden him to know that we can trust his sovereignty in most areas, but in the area of who He appoints to lead and judge, we somehow think He missed the mark. It doesn’t stop him, no, God does what God does because He is God. We can learn the heart of God by reading his word, but I agree there are times when although we are not sure and cannot fully understand just what He is doing, we can trust that He is faithful, He loves us, He is fulfilling His purposes and He will take care of us through it all. In other words “GOD’S GOT THIS!”

So, the next time you may be tempted to roll your eyes at or make a comment about something the people in the offices of our government or even our churches are doing, or you feel you must share some nasty email or gossip, remember who is really in charge and button your lips…bow your head…and pray for that person and trust God!

1 Kings 13:21-25 “And he cried out to the man of God who came from Judah, saying, “Thus says the LORD: ‘Because you have disobeyed the word of the LORD, and have not kept the commandment which the LORD your God commanded you, but you came back, ate bread, and drank water in the place which the LORD said to you, “Eat no bread, drink no water,” your corpse shall not come to the tomb of your fathers.’ “So it was after he had eaten bread and after he had drunk, that he saddled the donkey for him, the prophet whom he had brought back. When he was gone, a lion met him on the road and killed him. And his corpse was thrown on the road and the donkey stood by it. The lion also stood by the corpse. And there, men passed by and saw the corpse thrown on the road, and the lion standing by the corpse. Then they went and told it in the city where the old prophet dwelt.”

When you read through 1 Kings 13 there are a lot of weird events taking place. Hands being then shrivled and healed, old prophets lying to God’s man, altars being split apart. A donkey standing with a lion and a corpse. Seriously, people, this is interesting to read, but the bottom line deals with disobedience and consequences. It is one of those stories that you want to paint a picture of it in your head so that you can soak in all the details.

The man of God gave a word about an altar that was being built that would have men’s bones burned on it as a sacrifice. God was not pleased about the altar being built and the idolatry and apostasy, so he sent his man from Judah to go tell the king it was wrong and not to do it and if he did what would happen, so the man of God gave a sign and the altar split apart and the ashes on it poured out. The kind was angry and wanted to arrest the prophet, but when he stretched out his arm to give the command for the arrest his hand withered, but the man of God interceded and asked the Lord to restore the Kings hand, and the Lord did. o

Well, the King offered bread and water at his palace to the man of God, but God commanded the prophet not to eat or drink and so he declined the offer and left. As he was resting an Old Prophet came to him and offered him bread and water, but the man of God refused, saying, God had told him not to eat or drink, but the old prophet lied to the man of God and said God had sent him and told him it was okay to come with him to his home and eat and drink, so the man of God went and did just that. Because the man of God accepted he is threatened with death. After he gets on his donkey and starts on his way a lion comes and kills him and this is where we started our story. Imagine this a lion has killed this man, but not carried him away to eat him. The donkey is also still intact not having been eaten or even harmed by the lion. They are both standing next to the corpse and now men are passing by apparently unafraid of the lion and seeing what has been done. This lion was sent by God to do one thing and he did just that, no harm was to come to the donkey or those who passed by. What? God can control the natural desires of a lion, why yes friend he can! There is absolutely nothing, I mean nothing that is outside of God’s sovereign hand. We like to think there is, but there is NOTHING!! It would do us well to remember it.

All of this because the man of God disobeyed what he had been instructed not to do. There are always consequences when we make the decision to disobey what we know God has told us not to do. And yes, sometimes it is even to death. Seems harsh by our standards doesn’t it, to be killed all because you had a little bread and water, but God does not like being disobeyed when he gives us a direct word. We cannot understand the mind of God, we walk by faith obedient to his will and way, and when we are not, we will have consequences. Does this mean we lose our salvation, no, it means that God loves us too much to let us roam around in disobedience?He loves us enough to want to discipline us and grow us. Now, I cannot say for sure that God has taken a life because of disobedience nowadays, but I can safely say I am pretty sure he has, we are not privy to it as they were way back when. We often miss what is going on because we think it was all for then and now God is our friend and he sees sin as we do, (we see it as not so bad,) so we have no need to fear. Wrong! God hates our sin, He is still Holy, He still says we must obey his word and He still punishes sin and wrong.

Anyway, I found this story fascinating, it was a good reminder that God does not turn his head away while we are disobedient and He still desires that we walk in obedience and holiness. None of which we can do if we are doing it on our own and leaving God out of it. We need to be fully surrendered, laying our desires at his feet and asking for his help to faithfully walk this earth until he either returns for us or calls us home!

When we are children growing up under the authority of our parents we are taught obedience. Sometimes we had to learn it at the hand literally of our parents through trial and error. But learn we did. We were taught to listen to our conscience and make the right decisions based on that. We have an internal gauge that tells us when we are treading on thin ice, now we can choose to listen to it or plow ahead and suffer the consequences of our actions. Usually, consequences were a spanking, time out, no, you cannot go here or there etc.

We have laws on this earth that we are to follow or we can be fined, or jailed. We are to obey the speed limit, most do not, but if y9o9u get caught you get a ticket. We are told not to litter or we will be fined if caught, and so many more, however, many do not pay much attention to these laws and rules. They go about their day doing as they please, speeding and littering. Children disobey their parents on a regular basis because they think they know what is best. Sometimes rules and laws are put in place for our protection and to violate them can have bad consequences. Let’s just say you are at the beach and you see a sign that says, “do not swim,” it is probably there due to sharks or a bad current, something that makes the waters dangerous, but unfortunately many decide they can do it anyway and pay the price with their life or serious injury.

The Word of God is our guide. It tells us those things we are to do and not do in order to be obedient to the Lord and His Holy Word. They are not rules to keep us hindered and frustrated, but rather they are given to us to keep us safe. To protect us from the dangers of this world and the ruler of the air, Satan. When we obey His word we are blessed, our conscience clean before the Lord, but when we disobey we find ourselves at a place where we are in need of God’s discipline. We feel the weight of our wrong-doing and it hinders us in our prayers. God doesn’t stop loving us, but because of his Holiness, he must as a good Father punish and instruct in some way.

Is there ever a good time to disobey? Yes, there is. If we are pushed to do anything that violates God’s word and instruction for our lives then we should not do it. Usually, our conscience tells us it is wrong, and we should listen to that still small voice inside of us, why, because it is the Holy Spirit warning us we are about to do wrong. Even unbelievers have a built-in conscience that tells them when they are wrong when they need to say I am sorry etc., but we as believers have the Holy Spirit’s power at work in us making it clear when we are to walk away or run away. Also, we are told in scripture that we are to preach the gospel to all, that means even when they say we cannot. We have a higher authority that we obey than the ones on this earth. If anything goes against God’s word we are to obey God above all else, yes, even at the cost of our lives. Peter, John, Paul and the other apostles all knew this. Acts 5:29 “Peter and the other apostles replied: “We must obey God rather than human beings!”
Acts 23:1 “And Paul, earnestly beholding the council, said, Men and brethren, I have lived in all good conscience before God until this day.”

Do you want to live in good conscience toward God, not weighted down by sins disobedience? Folks time is running out, our days are coming to an end because Jesus will one day return to this earth, we need to be ready, in season and out. Yes, we have forgiveness for our sins, past, present, and future in Christ, but do you really want to live weighted down because you know you did something that violated God’s word and yes it feels just like a weight around your neck. It becomes something that the adversary of our souls can throw into our faces and keep us bent low. Let’s not give him any more ammunition than he already has!

Choose to obey God’s word above all else, walk in cleanness before your God knowing that He sees what you are doing and will either bless you or discipline you. He loves you too much to let you stay in disobedience for very long. It is His love that compels him to bring us out, reveal our wrong and set us on the right path again. As they say: “I have been there, done that!” It is hard to finally shed the final weight of our sin and disobedience. Live in the righteousness that is ours through Christ, walk with your spiritual shoulders squared, listen to the small voice inside that says run now, and know that when you do you will see the hand of God blessing you along your way, but most importantly you will one day hear, “Well Done!”

I love to iron, I know sounds crazy right. I always save my ironing until I have no less than 5 pieces, sometimes at least 10. I find it very therapeutic, it also satisfies that need for the instant gratification. There are wrinkles and once I apply the hot iron they are instantly gone! Sometimes I have to go over things more than once especially if they are cotton and really wrinkled, but again, each time I glide over the clothing it is flatter and I feel that sense of accomplishment. It is an instantly visible evidence of the work I am doing.

We as Christians expect that same instant gratification with our walk with the Lord and our prayers. We want him to do it now, or yesterday. We expect a microwave God, we say the prayer and poof just like that a moment later we receive our answers. Sometimes God does answer just that fast. We no more get the words out and he sends the answer our way, but most of the time it is a pray, wait, pray, wait, pray, wait, wait, wait,wait…you know exactly what I mean. And not only are we waiting, but we also cannot always see the work/answer being done. We know he hears us, his word assures us of his hearing and answering. 1 John 5:16 “And we know that he hears us whatever we ask, we know that we have what we asked of him.”
Jeremiah 29:12-13 “Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 33:3 “Call to me and I will answer you and tell you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”

We think we know exactly what we need when we need it. But God knows our hearts and our minds in ways we simply cannot. Our circumstances many times dictate our wants. But God works from the inside out. He formed our hearts and he hears and sees those deep things that we are unaware of. They do not escape his all-seeing eye. So, he works in us in the way that not only brings glory to himself first but is at the very root of what is best for us according to his will. To be honest we do not like that. We want what we want now. Just like those wrinkles disappearing under the heat and pressure, we want instant results according to what we are doing and how we feel. Scripture is clear that our hearts are deceitful and we cannot trust their wanderings. Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?”

God makes us wait, not because he is cruel, but because the work he is doing is completing in us the work needed to get us ready for heaven, to make us more like him. He does those things that we really need, he fulfills those longings that are pleasing to him and glorifies himself in the process. The Holy Spirit works in us convicting, changing, molding, helping, guiding etc…all those things we need to be transformed and made new. We need that Holy Spirit to work, active and moving inside of us and thankfully when we are born again the Spirit of God indwells us and does all those things.
In John 16:7 we read this: “I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.”

No, we cannot always experience that instant gratification that we so desperately think we need, but we can feel the Holy Spirit at work in us on a daily basis when we seek time with him. His love for us is too great to give us what we think we need and want, He gives us exactly what our souls long for in the time frame that he has stretched out and in the best possible way for us to grow and become like him.

Maybe just maybe if we leaned in closer and we were willing to wait with a little more patients we might see small glimpses of him working things out and actually learn to appreciate the process a little more. Maybe…if not, then go iron, you can get that feeling by watching your wrinkles disapper!

John 12:21 “Jesus sayeth unto them, come and dine.”

What an invitation, we are invited to come and dine with the maker of the universe, the King of Kings our Savior and Lord. No other invitation that you will ever receive carries with it such a weight of excitement and joy, or at least it shouldn’t.

Jesus extends this invitation to all who belong to him, this is not an event where you sit separtated at the back of the room with people who are just onlookers, no, this is an invitation to sit at His table, to eat the food He has prepared for you. It implies a nearness to our Lord. He has set the banquet table with all the finery one could ever long for and He himself will sit with us and eat with us.

What does one usually do when out with friends for a nice dinner? You laugh, you talk, you eat and share fellowship. Jesus wants us to fellowship with him. To see that we are apart of the entire equation. We are not a last minute invitee, we were chosen for this fine dining since the beginning of time. He wants us to feast on his word, that brings life and healing. He wants us to commune with him in prayer so that we can be molded and changed into bodies fit for heaven. He wants to show himself to us in ways that only time together can bring.

We have the opportunity daily to dine with the Lord, to pull up our chair and speak frankly with him. We can unload our deepest hurts, rejoice together in the victories of life and lean in close and breathe in the fragrance that is God. His is a sweet-smelling aroma, one full of justice, mercy, grace, love comfort peace, help, healing and so much more.
I don’t know about you but I need a full measure of those on a daily basis.

Imagine this table you are seated at. It has the finest linens, the most delicious food, nothing is denied to you. You can sit, eat until you are running over full. Even though the table is crowded it is as though it is only you and He, eating, laughing, crying, sharing. No matter what else is going on He is intimately acquainted with you and every word you say is important to him.

If we spent more time at the table of the Lord and less time in places we do not belong and should not go, we would not feel like we are deprived or rejected so often. When we choose this worlds menu over that the Master has prepared we are simply cheating ourselves. The food does not satisfy and our souls long for more. Not so when we sit with Jesus, we look intently into his face and lean in to listen. We never go away sorry we came.

If you have not taken the time to accept the invitation to “come and dine” with the Lord, start today. Crawl into a comfy seat, recline and start feasting on the word of God. Call out to him in prayer and suddenly life seems brighter, easier, more joyful. Sadness cannot remain when you feast with Jesus, sooner or later the dark clouds will roll away and you will find yourself filling up and maybe it is then that you recline in the Lord’s arms and just be. Contentment like nothing you have ever known is yours when you do.

Happy eating my friends enjoy the Lord this day. The invitation has arrived, will you go?

James 1:25 says this: “But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.”

This law that we are to hear and obey is not a law consisting of a bunch of legal jargon. It is the good news of Jesus, the gospel being spoken to us. It tells us that if we hear it and obey it, emulate it, walk it out day by day not only will it change us, but we will be blessed. When we obey it we accept it as the truth, we are not carried away by other doctrines of religion, we hear the truth spoken and we accept it. Being a doer is just being patient in hope, laboring in love, to glorify God and not self. The work of salvation in our lives where we are transformed daily into the likeness of our Lord.
It isn’t talking about works, trying to keep ourselves saved, it is talking about our looking into it, living it out, submitting to it in every area of our lives. Psalm 84:5 “Blessed are those whose strength is in you, whose hearts are set on pilgrimage.”

What is a pilgrimage? As defined by the dictionary it is a religious journey, religious expedition. Daily you continue to walk in the wisdom of learning his precepts and truth. They mold and shape you along the way.

However, if you hear the word (good news, gospel) and it falls on deaf ears then yours is not a state of blessing. You are not filled with His spirit, you are not saved and bound for heaven. Yours is a life lived for your own pleasures with not a thought toward God. You heard the truth of the gospel, but you rejected it. Blessings are not what is coming your way. Yes, you may have some good things happen in your life great things even, you may not feel any differently than you did before you heard the word, but in the end, yours is not a path leading to heaven and eternal life, but a path that leads straight to hell.

I think also it applies to us as Christian’s. We are to be obedient to the Word of God. How many times have you heard or read the word and you knew God was speaking to you, and you think I am going to…but you find later down the line that after you left the building or put down your bible you did not remember the words you heard or read. Time goes by and you forget what the Lord asked of you or you forget what He has done in times past. You forget…it is that simple. Or possibly you are walking through life and you come to the same problem you have had in the past, maybe even a sin and you start walking in your old man, forgetting the good things God has done for you, or how he delivered you before.

We need to walk daily in the truth we have heard and read, remembering our Salvation was purchased with a price, desiring to be like Jesus. To love and forgive, do and give as he did. It is possible and he says that when we do this; when we walk out the truth we have heard and received, He will bless us. I don’t know about you, but I want His blessings to flow freely in my life.

If you belong to Jesus you are one of his sheep. And as his sheep, you recognize his voice. You know when you hear it. There are times when you are going down a certain path and you know beyond a shadow of a doubt you have heard your master call to you, beconing you to come back. His voice saves us as we like dumb sheep wonder away not aware of all the dangers. He looks for us and the moment he sees we are gone he leaves the others to find us. Luke 15:4-5 “What man of, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? 5And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.” He is a good shepherd and he will come after us. We matter to God, he will not lose any of us. John 10:27-28 “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: 28 And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”

Do you see where it says in John 10 “and I know them?” Yes, we know our master’s voice, we can discern it above all others, but here is the thing, he knows your voice. Our of all the sheep he has, millions all over the world, he knows your distinct voice. As soon as he hears you call he bends low to hear what you have to say. We are not left waiting in a long line, hoping above all hopes that we can go next, wondering if he remembers us especially if it has been a while since we last took the time to talk to him. Nope, he knows our voice the moment the words leave our mouths or heart. Yes, I think even our hearts have a certain rhythm to them that he alone hears and understands, special to us and when no words can be formed on our lips he still hears the cry of our hearts.

I don’t know about you but that excites me, makes me thankful that I am special to my Lord and Savior. I am not just one who barely got in, I am “the very one” he called and saved. At just the right moment in my life, God opened my hearing to his voice and when he called to me and said today is the day of salvation, I heard it loud and I have been hearing it ever since that day. He didn’t just save me and leave me to my own devices, he continues to watch me and guide my footsteps along this treacherous path called life.

I have had those moments in life where I could not get the words to come, my heart and mind so overwhelmed that I felt I could not press on, but somehow even then He heard the pleas going up from my inner self and I knew he was with me, by my side helping me along, sometimes pulling and sometimes pushing, sometimes walking ahead and sometimes walking behind, and sometimes right by my side. I felt I could almost touch him.

Today remember that whatever you are going through wether big or small, Jesus is there, he is listening to the cry of your heart and the words that you are pouring out to him and he knows it is you, he will not confuse you with another. You can tell him anything and he will continue to love you; he will continue to keep you. His word tells us he will lose none the Father gives him…friend that means you and me. John 6:37 “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.” If you are his…it is a done deal, live like a child of God, dearly loved knowing he will come when you call and knows your voice above all the millions he hears every moment of every day. (heart smile)

What in the world could I possibly mean by that? Yes, we have all seen the signs that tell us there is danger up ahead or nearby, but sometimes the danger is right in front of us and we fail to realize it. We are used to looking about making sure to avoid any obvious sin that is around us and yet can fail to see the seemingly small thing right under our nose, right in our heart. We tend to want to sugarcoat these little sins and hope they go away on their own. (They won’t just for informational purposes.) Once we open the door a little to something it doesn’t take much for it to turn into something big. Our flesh wants to be satisfied.

We may think that at any moment we can just walk away, never do it/think it/see it again, but in my experience that doesn’t do much. We do well for a little while and then for whatever reason something is triggered and we find ourselves right back where we said we would not go again. Sounds a lot like Paul doesn’t it. Romans 7:15 “For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.” Paul hated his sin nature, he hated the control it had on him. Even though he was a Christian he recognized that sin lurked in his heart and mind. He was not living a sinful life, he wasn’t going out looking for trouble to get into. He was a very moral man with a very real sin nature and his sin nature like ours wants what it wants.

Paul was not ignorant of where the sin came from. Paul recognized that sin and lust were there in his heart apart of his old nature, yet still very much able to rear their heads. His desire was to live a Holy life like that of Christ, yet even Paul had moments of failure, times when his old and new nature wared with one another. Paul knows he wants to act and do differently and probably most days he did, but like all of us our hearts are deceitful and sin can sneak in. Paul like us could not get his flesh to behave in the manner he wanted it to. Paul knew his body kept him from fully living the life that God requires of us. He could not fulfill the requirements of holiness and righteousness on his own.

We are to be holy and pure. We are to live righteous lives as Jesus did, but we don’t, we can not in and of ourselves. Our sin nature wants its way and there are times when we allow it to have its way. Even on our best days, we fall short. But here is the good news, God has provided the righteousness which we all lack and which he requires us to have. He also provided the means by which we can have it.

Romans 8 “Therefore there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit. 2 For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. 3 For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh, 4 that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the Spirit.”

Hallelujah, we have a Savior, the Savior who can do in us what we cannot do in ourselves. We are not righteous, but he is and once he is living inside of us we have his righteousness inside of us, we have his Holy Spirit at work in us giving us everything we need to walk away from the “Danger Zone.” We can ask for His help to turn away, look away, walk away and He will give us what we need. We do not have to be a slave to our flesh any longer. Will the desire to sin ever leave us, probably not until we are home in heaven, but with the Holy Spirit power inside of us we can make the right choice if we simply ask him to help us.

Some people like the “Danger Zone.” They like having their feet firmly planted in heaven, in other words they know they are born-again, yet they still want to dangle their feet in wrong places. They are drawn to these things like a moth to a light. If we know we have a trigger, something that causes all sense to leave us and we parade ourselves down a dangerous path thinking we will quit at any time…we are fooling ourselves and playing with fire. Eventually, we will get burned. Many times God allows us to have our way, He waits for us to turn to him in sorrow and ask for forgiveness. We are powerless against the flesh if we do not employ the Spirit. When we keep ourselves away from the church and Christian fellowship and we refuse to read and pray we are setting ourselves up for failure. We become unaware of the “Danger Zone” signs we are passing and we find we have crossed the line.

Maybe you have found yourself in a place spiritually you never wanted to be, or physically dallying with some sin that you have glossed over and made yourself believe it isn’t that bad. Now is the time to lay it at the feet of Jesus, let him take your shame and sorrow. Ask for forgiveness, when you do he is faithful and just to forgive you and will cleanse you from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9

Isn’t that awesome! We do not have to live in constant condemnation. When we say “Lord, forgive me.” He does, and just like that, we are made right again. We may have a sin nature lurking about inside of us, but the Spirit of God in us is stronger than any sin that tries to bind us. Remember that!!

I was staring down into my empty coffee cup looking at the dry brown ring of coffee that had been left a little while before, it was already starting to dry on the bottom of my cup; I was wishing I could have more, the reality is that I could, I simply needed to get up and go pour more into my cup and enjoy. I needed to take action, if I wanted a new filling of coffee I needed to move from where I was at the table to the coffee pot, pick it up and pour it into my cup. To be honest I was feeling lazy wishing the coffee would just walk itself over and pour into my cup, oh well maybe someday someone will invent such a thing. LOL

As I was staring longingly into my cup I began thinking about how dry our spirits and hearts can become when we are not active in our pursuit of more of Jesus. We want the Lord to just drop nuggets of wisdom down deep into our hearts and souls without our ever having to do anything. No reading in his word, no prayer life, no church, no Christian fellowship to grow and learn with. Seriously, it is easier now to hear a good message from the Lord than ever. You can live-stream them, download them, hear them on the radio, have the Bible read to you through an audiobook etc.

We say we want more Jesus and then do nothing. He longs to come and sit with us, to teach us his commandments, to give his wisdom to us to help us in our walk through this troubled world. Yet, we are lazy, we want someone else to do it for us. Your relationship with Jesus is just that “YOURS.” It is a personal relationship, something between you and Jesus.

I took action finally, I realized the only way I was going to get coffee and make that slightly dry spot wet again was to move myself to the coffee pot, pour that hot liquid into my cup and enjoy the wonderful fragrance and taste. I was so glad I did, it smelled and tasted even better the second time around. And when I take the time to pray, to sit with Jesus in his word I always walk away with a new sense of closeness, a new settledness in my soul and a good taste in my heart of time well spent. New wisdom is poured into my dry and parched spirit and I am refreshed for a new day and new trials. I feel ready to give to others because I myself took time to nourish my soul. My dry spot has a fresh word on it and my heart feels lighter.

No one else can spend time with Jesus for you, Oh, they can pray for you and the Lord can work in your life even without your permission, but the growth comes from getting into his word, listening to it, praying and meditating on it, letting it seep deep down into your very marrow. That requires your action, your movement toward a closer relationship. Yes, you can be saved and stay a “baby Christian” your entire life, but why would you want to? I want to know Him in the fullness of His glory. I want to feel him in every breath and heartbeat I have. I want to be so close to Jesus that I can almost reach out and physically feel him near me. I cannot live a day without him, I just cannot!

As I gaze through the windows of the past and I see his hand at work in my messed up life and I know that it was He and He alone that brought me through those horribly long and dry places, I am brought to this place of hunger for more. I want to know who this God is that transforms even the lowest of the lows, the meanest of the mean, those so steep in sin they never give God a thought. Oh, I know He does it all, the calling, the saving, the filling, the moving, the growing…but when we take the time to go read, go pray, go spend time with him, the intimacy in your relationship with Jesus just goes to the next level. It is in those quiet times that He has your undivided attention that He waters your soul and wets your desert land.

Think of it this way, what would your relationships with your spouse, a friend, anyone look like if you never invested time alone with them? Would you even have a relationship?

I will leave you with these words from His word:

James 4:8 “Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded.”

2 Peter 318 “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever! Amen.

2 Timothy 3:16 ” All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.”

Hebrews 4:12 “For the word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.”

John 1:1″ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”

Proverbs 8:17 “I love those who love me

and those who seek me find me.”

Psalm 119:105 “Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light to my path.”

Blessings on you as you pursue the Lord with your whole heart, mind, and soul and you grow in the wisdom and knowledge of our Lord. As you spend time alone with Him in prayer, as you seek Him, He will be found and you will be changed!!!