Create in me… by Julie Harris
“Today I am excited to collaborate with some lovely people who write for the blog church set free! We are all writing about what worship means to us. I hope you will visit the site and that it will encourage you in your journey to knowing and growing closer to Him…”
Source: Create in me…
Love is moving
Source: Love is moving
“Sometimes we want God to use us to do “big things”… but I am finding the greatest joy in doing the smallest of tasks.” ~ Julie Harris
Are you and I willing to be used by God for His glory, regardless of how “big” or “small” the opportunity will be? For that matter, beyond the opportunity to serve and in that give glory to God alone, are we willing to go and serve?
The Timekeeper – by Pastor O Shell
“How long O Lord?” This is the cry from millions of hearts. Likely from our heart as well, and often. We spend so much of our life energy setting, focusing on, and striving to reach goals, accomplish agendas, and bring to pass the deep desires of our hearts, but all we have in the end is exhaustion. And more often than not, disappointment and frustration as well. We do seek Him in it all, but mostly as a means of reaching our desired end. He said He’d give us the desires of our hearts, and we mean to hold Him to His word. Even if we do get what we want, we miss what we truly need, Him. We can do this in every facet of life, and may well be most guilty of it in the area of ministry. We have good ends that we want to reach, and we’re in a very great hurry to reach them. Jesus said that He “must be about the Father’s business.” Well, so are we. The problem is, we don’t understand what His business is really all about. We have allowed working for Him to take the place of knowing and loving Him. We can have lives dedicated to Him, but I’m not so sure the same can be said of our hearts. This may be best seen when we’re forced to deal with the delays that can come along in getting to the place we want to be. Achieving the end that we’ve been aiming for. Jesus didn’t live this way. We ask what would Jesus do? Will we ask as to how Jesus really walked….thought…..lived?
Jesus spent 30 years in obscurity. In that time He had an ever growing picture of what He had been sent for, particularly by the age of 12. Yet He didn’t deal with the delay with impatience or frustration. He knew what He was here for, but He was at total rest as to how and when the Father would bring it all about. Chole speaks beautiful words as to how He walked in this time. He did not just have His eyes on where He was going. He had His eyes on the One He was going with. He had zeal, but that zeal was first and foremost in His walk with and in the Father. All the energy of His ministry flowed out of that relationship. He didn’t come to show us how to “do.” He showed us what to be. What we can become in Him. That’s why His Life, amidst all the delays, difficulties, trials and tears, was marked by the total rest and contentment He had in His Father. The One He trusted to bring about all things for Him in the fullness of HIS time. Can we?
Pastor O
A GREATER PURPOSE
Laura Story, a singer and author of the book “When God Doesn’t Fix It,” tells the story of her 10 year walk with the Father through the brain tumor that afflicts her husband. This tumor has not only robbed him of the sight in one eye, it has also caused him many mental and emotional problems as well. Much prayer has gone up for his healing. Yet he is not healed. At least in the manner that most of us understand healing. We expect when we pray that the Lord will answer and fix everything. But as Story writes, what happens when He doesn’t? What happens when the thorn remains? What happens when He either doesn’t remove the problem, or remove us from the problem? What happens then? What are we left with then? If someone tells us that we are left with Him, all that is Him, and nothing else; no change, no healing, no deliverance, can we accept that? Is He really enough?
Blessings,
Pastor O
The SACK
“At that time Hanani the seer came to King Asa and told him, ‘Because you have put your trust in the king of Aram instead of in the Lord your God, you have missed your chance to destroy the army of the king of Aram……The eyes of the Lord search the whole earth in order to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him. What a fool you have been. From now on you will be at war.’ ” 2 Chronicles 16:7, 9
Chinese Christian Brother Yun, known as the Heavenly Man, tells of this happening in one of the Chinese house churches. The Chinese believers regularly send off other believers to go into surrounding towns and villages to share the love and life of Christ. Before each sending, the group would take up a collection for the work. Many of those who were in attendance had nothing of material or monetary value to give. These believers, with tears streaming down their faces, when the large sack came to them, would literally place themselves in the sack. Yun said that by doing this, these gentle folk wanted to signify to God that their lives were all they had to give and that they were willing to give all of themselves for His glory. I’m humbled by this. Are you?
Here in the west, there are many who are willing to give….up to a point, or as I heard one man put it, up to a tithe. There are also those who are willing to go…..again, up to a point or a place. How many of us are really willing to give all of ourselves to all that is Him? When “the sack” comes to us, are we willing to put many “things” in it, but not all of ourselves? Is giving, to us, a matter of percentage, or totality? How many invisible lines have we drawn, and boundaries placed on how much of ourselves we’re really willing to be sacrificial with? Who are we really more like in Jesus’ story of the rich Pharisee and the poor widow? Jesus watched the Pharisee give a large amount of money out of his wealth.
The widow gave two pennies, which was all she had. The first gave out of his surplus, the widow gave all with nothing held back. Who are we more like? When the sack comes our way, to which heart attitude are we really drawn to? What have we really put in the sack? Every moment of every day, the sack comes before us. What’s really going into it. A percentage or a person?
This is not just a matter of our resources or time. It’s a matter of the self. All of the self. The past, present and future. They all go into the sack. Our motives. Our dreams, desires, disappointments. People. Both those we love, and those we perhaps do not love so much. All of it goes into the sack. When the sack comes to us, we cannot stop with a check or a volunteering for some needed church ministry or job. We cannot stop with a part or percentage. It cannot be the part. It must be the whole. The whole of us.
Asa the king had trusted God with much. He could not trust Him with all. “War” was the fruit of that. For us, this means that all that we hold back from him will be under attack from our enemy satan, and we will spend ourselves on trying to protect in our strength what can only be kept by His. If this is not so, just think on how much unrest is in our lives as the result of trying to bring about the results we desire by our own efforts, be they relationships, professions, and especially ministries. Like Asa, we suffer constant “war” and have no peace because of it.
The Lord continues to search the world for hearts fully committed to Him. As He searches, what does He find in ours? Percentages? Bits that are His, but pieces that are not? Asa lived in this way, and the Father called him a fool. What does He call us?
Blessings,
Pastor O
(A special thanks to my brother in Christ and friend for allowing me to share this devotional message.)
What Is Your ALL IN?
God is so cool. Seriously, haven’t you noticed that HE loves to be in the details of our life? Last night in our Bible study we continued a conversation about our “All In’ or full surrender. For context we were discussing Jesus in the garden prior to His arrest and how it was there that Jesus surrendered His all to the Father’s plan. Knowing before hand that He would suffer unimaginable pain and that ultimately His life’s blood for all of humanity! The only thing that would resolve the Father’s requirement for the restoration of mankind back to Himself. Jesus made His commitment in the garden, it was settled.
On the heels of that we have this verse from a devotional this morning:
“After visiting Ephesus and Macedonia, the Apostle Paul got an “ask” from God the Holy Spirit to go on to Jerusalem (Acts 19:21). The Spirit warned him, however: if he went there, he’d be arrested. Paul’s friends begged him not to go. Paul answered: “What are you doing, weeping and breaking my heart? For I am ready not only to be imprisoned but even to die in Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus” (Acts 21:13).
We will all come to our time in the garden, some reading this may have already been in the garden. As we discussed last evening, in this life’s journey, we will find ourselves in the garden many times as the Holy Spirit speaks to us about the things that stand in the way of our “ALL IN”. The question is will we trust Him and surrender that which prevents us from being completely emptied of self and open to the fullness of HIM?
Blessing and Peace Always,
~Robert
He Keeps The Key
Is there some problem in your life to solve,
Some passage seeming full of mystery?
God knows, who brings the hidden things to light.
He keeps the key.
Is there some door closed by the Father’s hand
Which widely opened you had hoped to see?
Trust God and wait–for when He shuts the door
He keeps the key.
Is there some earnest prayer unanswered yet,
Or answered NOT as you had thought ‘twould be?
God will make clear His purpose by-and-by.
He keeps the key.
Have patience with your God, your patient God,
All wise, all knowing, no long tarrier He,
And of the door of all thy future life
He keeps the key.
Unfailing comfort, sweet and blessed rest,
To know of EVERY door He keeps the key.
That He at last when just HE sees ’tis best,
Will give it THEE.
–Anonymous
The poem was part of my devotion this morning and I had to share it with you. I have personally struggled for a long time with my work versus my call. To be fair, I ran away from God’s call on my life for several decades. God tarried with me for a very long time and I must now be willing to wait. During this time, I must be active in growing by His grace, learning and preparing for the day when HE opens the door.
The rub, the issue for is figuring out how to be “all in” while not being in ministry full time, i.e. earning my living from full time ministry. There is this truth; as a child of God, saved by grace through Jesus, and empowered by the Holy Spirit, we are ALL in ministry! We are all called to as ambassadors of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the reconciliation of man back to a right relationship with God. There is no other calling for us as we journey here on our way to our eternal home.
What we do to fund our ministry may be as a homemaker or professional or clerk or craftsman… Who we are though is not based on our vocation, we are children of the KING, the Creator of everything, and Savior of all mankind! As I type this, I’m getting excited about what we are called to do and there is the rub for me. I’m not wired to be bi-vocational and this is because God created me for full time service.
“He keeps the key”, this IS right and true. When HIS timing is right and true and we are prepared, then He will open the door and provide the key. We are all called to share God’s Gospel of Grace and we should be looking for those opportunities all the time, regardless of where we work. Our labor is for the LORD!!!
Blessings & Peace Aleays,
~Robert
Glory to God Alone
As a New Years Resolution, no as a LIFELONG RESOLUTION… ALL GLORY TO GOD ALONE.
In seeking a verse for this year and maybe now my life verse, I’ll wait for HIS direction on the last part, several thoughts have formed a recurring theme in my mind. Since I’m not given to simplicity, wish that I were…, below is what is on my heart, mind, and soul for 2015 and beyond.
” Whoever speaks must speak God’s words. Whoever serves must serve with the strength God supplies so that in every way God receives glory through Jesus Christ. Glory and power belong to Jesus Christ forever and ever! Amen.” ~ I Peter 4:11
The overarching theme has been this:
Is there any work I will not do for the glory of God?
Is there any place I will not go to the glory of God?
Is there anyone I will not approach for the glory of God?
Is there any ministry I will not engage in for the glory of God?
Is there any thing in my life that does not bring glory to God?
Is there any thing in my life more important than the glory of God?
Am I truly willing to do ALL HE has and is calling me to do for HIS GLORY and KINGDOM?
At the end of these questions comes the realization that answering in the affirmative is only the first step. I will have to be dedicated to this purpose above all else! I will have to engage in the constant practice of being in HIS presence constantly. I will have to rely on the power and strength of the Holy Spirit more than at any other time in my life from this very moment on. That this dependency will necessarily grow because the reality of spiritual warfare is in full swing with this decision.
How will I be able to give “Glory to God Alone?” There is only one way, this must be the only purpose in my walk and then only by the power God provides through the Holy Spirit.
” Whoever speaks must speak God’s words. Whoever serves must serve with the strength God supplies so that in every way God receives glory through Jesus Christ. Glory and power belong to Jesus Christ forever and ever! Amen.” ~ I Peter 4:11
I ask for your prayerful support over the coming days, months, and years. To GOD ALONE be the GLORY!!!
In Service to Jesus and you,
~Robert
“He Leads Us On”
2015, the newest frontier for everyone today is the same. What does 2015 hold in store? What new challenges and new opportunities await? How will you and I purpose to embrace all that 2015 has in store?
Make no mistake, life will happen and we must decide today to participate in the journey of 2015. Whether we get to today only, a few days or weeks or months, or the entire year… One thing is certain, we will either join in the journey or watch it pass by. As a child in Jesus Christ, you and I are called to embrace each and everyday of this journey!
Jesus said, “The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” ~John 10:10 God our Father expects us to live this life to the fullest and doing so means we participate and do so with intention.
We get to know right now that God is in this journey with us! He will provide for our every need and that regardless of what takes place this year, HE already knows what is in store for this year. He has already provided for every mountain, valley, and obstacle. He already knows the great heights of joy and the deepest of hurts and sorrow that we will face; these too HE has already provided the way for us to experience with HIS grace and strength.
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” ~Jeremiah 29:11
Make no mistake, God is already active in 2015. He is eager to fulfill HIS plan in our life and to see us fulfill His will for ours. “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” ~Ephesians 2:10
God calls us to enjoy this journey we call “life” and to do so means that we must actively participate in every aspect of what is to come. We must intentionally move toward all HE has for us this year seeking to be walking in harmony with HIS perfect will. The “Great Commission” calls us to, “… go and make disciples of all nations…” ~Matthew 28:19. The key word to focus on here is “GO”, participate in God’s plan.
The choice IS ours, participate or spectate. I respectfully submit to you that the great experience will be had in choosing to join in with God. Seek to walk in step, in harmony with God our Father to fulfill HIS plan to reconcile mankind to Himself! The glory and honor will all belong to HIM and we will get to enjoy the moments of victory along the way. 2015 will be filled with victories and losses, make no mistake HE will be in it all and go through all of it with you and I, such a great blessing!!!
In closing, I pray that you will experience the very best that God has for you. That you will know the depths of HIS peace as never before and that HIS blessings upon you will flow as rivers into the lives of those you encounter. Lastly, in my quite time this morning, the following poem stood out to me.
“He leads us on by paths we did not know;
Upward He leads us, though our steps be slow,
Though oft we faint and falter on the way,
Though storms and darkness oft obscure the day;
Yet when the clouds are gone,
We know He leads us on.
He leads us on through all the unquiet years;
Past all our dreamland hopes, and doubts and fears,
He guides our steps, through all the tangled maze
Of losses, sorrows, and o’er clouded days;
We know His will is done;
And still He leads us on.”
–Nicholaus Ludwig Zinzendorf
Blessings and Peace Always,
~Robert
Always Thank God the Father…
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