Learning

Sometimes with learning we have to be brought to the end of the rope, or the end of ourselves, because we want to keep making it about oirselves, but once we are brought to the end, God is the only beginning, unless we are not willing to look at God as the beginning, but we continue to look to ourselves as our help. We are called to die to ourselves, through water baptism, we are put under the water to signify the death of the old and when we are brought out of the water we are to come alive in Christ Jesus.

I think even though this is a one time action we must do this daily, we must put ourselves to death and come alive to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. If we continue to make life about myself, I am not allowing Jesus to be Lord in my life. I am not dying to myself, I continue to want to make life about me.

This is a moment by moment choice, it is a choice I have to make, no one else can do it for me, I must be willing to say Lord Your will be done, not about me, but about you Lord. It has to be Thy way, not my way, it has to be Him not I. When I surrender all, than He can work in every corner of my heart, even those that I may not want others to see, He knows them all.

Who is in control of your life? Is it truly His way or is it truly my way? What is God saying to you today?

Self Help

I was thinking a lot lately about all the self help books out there, there is self help for every situation or issue. We turn to them in search of an answer that we can't seem to find on our own. We want to improve ourselves, maybe it is just me, but I have to wonder. Have you ever focused on something so much that soon the problem seems so big there is no answer, no help and I feel lost in discouragement when that happens.

I think the Bible talks about this very thing, before I saw the Bible as stories of old, how can it help me, but the more I read it the more the words come to life, the more I can apply it to my life, to my situation. We want easy solutions to the problems that we may face in life. The answer is not in the problem, it is in the solution.

OK, OK, I will tell you what I am getting at, see the more we focus on the problem, the bigger it gets, stop focusing on the problem. See the answer is not the problem it is surrendering the very thing to Jesus Christ. He is here to allow us to walk free from the very thing that has held us captive for so long, He is the answer.

How Geoff can I apply that to my issue that I am having at work or at home? Well, the more you focus on the issue that you are having where ever, the more the issue grows right? Stop and turn it over to God, stop looking for the solution with your own strength and start trusting in God for the solution. Faith is the essence of things hope for and the things not seen, Have you ever seen where a mustard tree comes from? If we have the faith of a mustard seed, can you imagine where God can take us?

When I focus on my rights, my wants, my needs, it is no longer about God, it is about me, what I am lacking, what I want, how I feel, but when I change my focus off of me and stop having the pity party and I start seeing that God is working, but the more I allow Him to work, I take the focus off of myself and turn it to God. God has placed me where I am, God sees the bigger picture, I see what is right in front of me, but if I change my focus, I allow Him to work, I allow His strength to fill me, I allow Him to move in me and around me.

Colossians 3:2 "Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth."

Psalm 1:1-6 "Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water that yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf does not wither. In all that he does, he prospers. The wicked are not so, but are like chaff that the wind drives away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous; ..." Where are you looking for help? Who are you allowing to counsel you? Matthew 6:33 "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you." God has the answer you seek, He is in it all, even in the storms He is right there with you, He will never leave you nor forsake you, but you have to ask and He will hear. He isn't a magic Geeny (sp?), He is God.

Matthew 6:24 "“No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money." 

This is a moment by moment choice, you have to make it, not just once, but every chance you get, because the enemy does not want you to find freedom from our human flesh, the enemy wants to hold you captive and say to you there is no help, but God is there. God is limitless, we are the limit, we place limits on God and He says let Him be God, let Him work, but we have to surrender it to Him, surrender all. 

Boxes

It is really easy to put things in boxes, when I do, I know exactly what I am going to find when I open that box. I think when we place God in a box, we place limits on Him. He is the maker of the universe, but yet we place Him in a box. We place that box on a shelf and only take God out of it in hard times. We only think we can open the box on certain things and most other times we feel that we inconvenience Him, that we can do it on my own. He created the universe, why would He want to help me with my job, or the decision I need to make or the small choices that I need to do.

When we believe that God is the God and allow Him to be God, we no longer place Him in a box. We stop putting limits on Him, we start relying on Him for the very things that we thought we could do ourselves. In the Bible it talks about how we are to throw all our cares on Him. How we are to rely on Him for our strength, that as humans we will fail, but when we walk with Him that He will guide us, He will help us not just through the hard, but in all circumstances.  Through my own strength I will surely fail, the scripture that comes to mind Isaiah 40:31 "But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint." We must wait on God, trust in Him. The strength that we do not have, He will provide, but it is in His timing, not ours.

When we place God in a box, we are not waiting on Him, we are not trusting in Him to do anything, except when we feel we can't do it on our own. Is it time to take God out of the box you have placed Him in? Is it time to allow Him to schedule your day? Is it time to start praying without ceasing, for this is the will of God. People think praying means Dear Lord and Amen, but maybe instead of saying Amen at the beginning of the day, you save it for the end of the day. As I go through my day, I talk to God, when someone comes to mind, I pray for that person, because I may not know what they are going through, but God does and He is with them. It is hard to change the way of thinking, but have you ever been sitting at work, working along, but you are thinking of a hundred different things? If you can do that, than why can't you spend that time in prayer for those people or for what you are doing at work.

Time to take God off the shelf and out of the box, isn't it time that we take Him at His promises. He says I will never leave you nor forsake you. He says that He is with us through it all, even when we walk through the valley of darkness, He never leaves. If He is always with us, why aren't we calling on Him more? Why do we think that we can ask Him for the big things, but not the little things? He says He will not let us down. He has no limits, we are the only limit and that is the limit we put on Him. How can He help, if you think you can do it all on your own?

When is it time to allow Him in all situations?

Rights

I have been thinking about my rights, what are my rights? As a Christian do I have the right to think as the world thinks? I think that it is easy to think that I have the right to react any way I want, but you see that the "I" gets in the way. I believe that in the Bible it talks about how we must surrender our rights to be changed to what Jesus wants in our lives. It is easy to think that I have to right to do what I want, but really when we look at it, one of the hardest things to do is allow God to be God.

As children growing up we think that we have the right to be any way we want to be, because we are in fact individuals. No one has the right to tell me what to do... I have the right to do anything I want to do, I have the right to think any way I want to think, I have the right to be anywhere I want to be. But really when it comes down to it, if I surrender my will to God, that I allow Him to lead the way, do I have any rights as a child of the most High God? It can't be about my rights, but about God's way. I must stop fighting about what I want or what I want to do, I must then surrender to exactly what God wants of me and I stop fighting it, I stop saying but what about me Lord, I start say yes Your way Lord, not my will, but Yours.

See we can learn a lot from the house of God, to the homes that we are raising, to the Christian walk. God talks about how the church is like the same set up as our homes, when we allow Him, we allow Him to transform us from the inside out. I think one of the hardest things to do is surrender. Have you surrendered your life to God? I think it is a daily/moment by moment choice. Sometimes our wills seem to fight us on this very thing, but God says who is in control? We have to say You Lord, Your will be done, Your kingdom come, not about me, but about you Lord. Surrendering our very right to make life about us and allowing it to be about God.

When we change our perspective from ourselves to putting God in control, it doesn't matter who tells us what to do, as long as they are speaking truth and I weigh it against God, I allow Him to be in control. It is no longer about what I want, but about what He wants. His way, His will be done, not mine. It changes everything, it changes how I love, how I react, how I am. Because it isn't about me anymore, but Him.