It is said if you have a nice house, nice cars, plenty of money in the bank, go on amazing vacations that you will be happy. Is that true? I heard on a news reports that the highest suicide rates are not among the poor people but the super rich people. The people that are suppose to be the happiest by world standards. Has this idea crept into the church? I have been meditating on Matthew 6 a lot over the years and especially the last year. You may hear that the pastor will say that God cares about your needs. Most people intellectually agrees with it but do they really believe it? In my experience, I have found that people believe the Scripture in regards to the taking care of us as a spiritual care not a literal care. They may even intellectually agree that God will provide physical needs but practically they think it all depends on themselves. I even heard the expression God will help those who help themselves. It is expected in America to be super successful and if your not you must be doing something wrong. They neglect to realize sometimes the Lord won't bless something in order to grow a person's faith. He is doing a work is that person's life. That thought doesn't enter most people's minds. All of these thoughts go around in my mind and heart.....
My answer is... "Where is Christ in your plan and your life?" Is He a Sunday God? Is He just good when health issues come? Do you only come to Him for spiritual needs? Do you treat Him like a genie to grant you your desires? Where is He in your every day decisions? How often do you read His Word? The only way the mind is renewed day by day (Romans 12:2) is by being in the Word of God and not for a nano second. People spend so much time on their phone with social media and YouTube and they read a verse and think that is good enough for God. How long would a marriage last if you only spent 1 - 5 mins a day with your spouse? How great would your parenting be if you spent 1 - 5 mins with your kids? Relationships require time and investment of oneself in communicating to grow and survive. The same is true with your relationship with Christ? He is not fire insurance! If that is what you think, then I don't think you should be feeling that safe. If you have put your faith and trust in Jesus and what He did on the cross for you to pay for all your sins against a Holy and Righteous God, then Jesus should be the focus of you heart and life. His Word is how we know who He is and what He want us to do. God is your Father and He is a Good Father, but not a passive or a permissive Father. Once you are His, He will care for you in the midst of the hard times and will provide for your needs. I said needs, not wants. You don't have to go on a mission trip to see God at work. You can see Him working everyday when you put Him first and follow His lead; not expecting Him to follow yours.
I read an autobiography and biography of 2 men that lived in dependency on God. George Muller is well known for the orphanage he started and ran all in the dependency on God and Robert Chapman ran a home where he invited exhausted missionaries and pastors to stay and be refreshed at no expense to them. These men's lives of living in dependency on God in everyday life may seem to most people an impossibility for today. People say they had the "gift of faith". Obviously, they have never read George Muller's words. They didn't have the "gift of faith" they knew God! They were in His Word and they trusted Him. I will say trusting God for your everyday needs is not for the faint of heart especially in the beginning of your journey. Sometimes God can make you wait. You start by trusting for little things and then you go to bigger things. Our family lives by faith. My husband works, but is self-employed and we KNOW God as our Provider and wouldn't have it any other way. There is joy and contentment because our focus and love is on the Pearl of Great Price (Matt 13:45-46) our Savior Jesus and not the trinkets in this world.
Showing posts with label faith in Jesus Christ. Show all posts
Showing posts with label faith in Jesus Christ. Show all posts
Saturday, October 5, 2019
Tuesday, May 22, 2012
Are You Organically Growing Into Others?
The body of Christ is a wonderful thing. I am apart of a great church were at times you feel like you are in a church that is very similar to the 1st century church. They have such a love for one another. The preaching of God's Word is sound and it causes you to love Christ more. The pastor has a true shepherd's heart. No church is perfect and there is always room for improvement but I really treasure my church.
Why am I telling about my church because they have really taught me how a body is to function. I have been going to churches since I was really young so I have seen many churches. The thing that always amazed me is when people ask, "how are you doing?" they really don't want to hear the answer. I don't know if you have experienced that. I always wondered if you don't want to hear then why do you ask? If you ask them the question they always say everything is fine. Later you will find out that they are really going through a lot. Next, you wonder, why did they lie and say everything was fine when everything is not? I believe it boils down to people want to look like they have everything under control and they want to appear so godly and don't want people to know they struggle. This is a mistake. The beauty of the body of Christ is we are to bear each others burdens, pray for each other, encourage one another, and help each other up when we fall down. If you don't share in some degree you are hindering someone else from growing. For instance, say you just went through a trial and God showed you so much and you really grew through it. Say if someone asks you how you are doing and you share; you never know if that person is going through something similar to what you have gone through. What you say may really help them get through and grow as well. I heard one of the teachers at my church say that we are to organically grow into one another's lives so that we can help and encourage each other to good works. If we keep everything behind a mask of everything is okay so everyone will think we are righteous we also deprive someone from being able to minister to us.
I think things would be easier for people to give up the pride of trying to appear so righteous if they remembered constantly we are all sinners deserving hell. It is only by the grace of God and Him sending His only Son, Jesus Christ, to take your place on the cross and giving you His righteousness that you will enter heaven. When God looks at you, dear believer, He is not looking at how "righteous" you are or all your good works, He is seeing Christ's righteousness. Think about God had to intervene in your life, open your eyes, give you faith to believe, pay your enormous debt of sin and give you His righteousness to save you. How can you truly be prideful? What did you do? God did everything. Your righteousness is as filthy rags! You cannot fool God. You may be able to fool others but God knows everything about you. Believers need to be honest with one another. If you are struggling, tell someone. You don't need to go through things alone. You are never alone because you have Christ & Christ gives you a new family with tons of brothers & sisters eager to pray with you, truly listen and give you sound counsel from the scriptures, & help you keep your eyes on Christ.
I do have to say, if you go to someone for counsel and it is either not according to scripture meaning they take scripture out of context, they are not truly listen and they are just figuring out what verse to say to you or they speak and give you worldly counsel, disregard what was said & RUN!!!!!!! To find someone to get counsel from, look for someone whose life exemplifies Christ and you have seen them in many different situations, meaning outside of church. You need to see this to make sure they are genuine because anyone can look beautiful at church. You need to know 3 things. They are really passionate about Christ and their greatest desire is to please Christ and they really care about you and your spiritual growth.
Once you find a few people that would be the people you look to for advice or counsel then the rest of the people you get to know them, love them, serve them and invest your life into them. The joy you will experience is unbelievable. If everyone were to do this every church would be closer to the 1st century church. You will organically grow into each others lives by sharing and praying and loving each other. It can all start with you opening up to someone else and taking the mask down. Let the love of Christ through the body in. Begin to organically grow!
Why am I telling about my church because they have really taught me how a body is to function. I have been going to churches since I was really young so I have seen many churches. The thing that always amazed me is when people ask, "how are you doing?" they really don't want to hear the answer. I don't know if you have experienced that. I always wondered if you don't want to hear then why do you ask? If you ask them the question they always say everything is fine. Later you will find out that they are really going through a lot. Next, you wonder, why did they lie and say everything was fine when everything is not? I believe it boils down to people want to look like they have everything under control and they want to appear so godly and don't want people to know they struggle. This is a mistake. The beauty of the body of Christ is we are to bear each others burdens, pray for each other, encourage one another, and help each other up when we fall down. If you don't share in some degree you are hindering someone else from growing. For instance, say you just went through a trial and God showed you so much and you really grew through it. Say if someone asks you how you are doing and you share; you never know if that person is going through something similar to what you have gone through. What you say may really help them get through and grow as well. I heard one of the teachers at my church say that we are to organically grow into one another's lives so that we can help and encourage each other to good works. If we keep everything behind a mask of everything is okay so everyone will think we are righteous we also deprive someone from being able to minister to us.
I think things would be easier for people to give up the pride of trying to appear so righteous if they remembered constantly we are all sinners deserving hell. It is only by the grace of God and Him sending His only Son, Jesus Christ, to take your place on the cross and giving you His righteousness that you will enter heaven. When God looks at you, dear believer, He is not looking at how "righteous" you are or all your good works, He is seeing Christ's righteousness. Think about God had to intervene in your life, open your eyes, give you faith to believe, pay your enormous debt of sin and give you His righteousness to save you. How can you truly be prideful? What did you do? God did everything. Your righteousness is as filthy rags! You cannot fool God. You may be able to fool others but God knows everything about you. Believers need to be honest with one another. If you are struggling, tell someone. You don't need to go through things alone. You are never alone because you have Christ & Christ gives you a new family with tons of brothers & sisters eager to pray with you, truly listen and give you sound counsel from the scriptures, & help you keep your eyes on Christ.
I do have to say, if you go to someone for counsel and it is either not according to scripture meaning they take scripture out of context, they are not truly listen and they are just figuring out what verse to say to you or they speak and give you worldly counsel, disregard what was said & RUN!!!!!!! To find someone to get counsel from, look for someone whose life exemplifies Christ and you have seen them in many different situations, meaning outside of church. You need to see this to make sure they are genuine because anyone can look beautiful at church. You need to know 3 things. They are really passionate about Christ and their greatest desire is to please Christ and they really care about you and your spiritual growth.
Once you find a few people that would be the people you look to for advice or counsel then the rest of the people you get to know them, love them, serve them and invest your life into them. The joy you will experience is unbelievable. If everyone were to do this every church would be closer to the 1st century church. You will organically grow into each others lives by sharing and praying and loving each other. It can all start with you opening up to someone else and taking the mask down. Let the love of Christ through the body in. Begin to organically grow!
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