Fast Food

I was thinking about how our society is in the fast pace idea, everything must be done fast, fast food, fast serve, everything must be fast. I go through a drive through, I order a meal, within 5 minutes, I have that meal completed and I am driving away, the answer to my hunger issue only took 5 minutes. I want answers fast, I want results fast and when I don't get it, I think that something must be broken. Even our answers, if we don't answer in a certain amount of time we have the chance of losing attention of those around us.

I thought about how I pray, I may ask God for wisdom, or help, but then I think that I don't get it, that I should stop asking, or maybe that I should only ask once. And when times are good, do I continue to ask for help, or do I rely on my own strength? I think it is easy to think, OK God You took me this far, now I got the rest, but I believe God is saying I want to be your strength in it all, not just when times are hard, but all the time.

This reminds me of the parable in the Bible about the woman Luke 18:1-8 "18 And he told them a parable to the effect that they ought always to pray and not lose heart. 2 He said, “In a certain city there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected man. 3 And there was a widow in that city who kept coming to him and saying, ‘Give me justice against my adversary.’ 4 For a while he refused, but afterward he said to himself,‘Though I neither fear God nor respect man, 5 yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will give her justice, so that she will not beat me down by her continual coming.’” 6 And the Lord said, “Hear what the unrighteous judge says. 7 And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? 8 I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?"

Can you imagine if I continue to seek God, that I persist to ask the question what will change in my life? Do I just want fast answers and when I don't get the answer, do I give up? Jesus tells this story, to show us that we need to pray without ceasing, I need to continue to ask, because that is His will. Do I just want fast answers? Do I want our prayer requests to be answered that same day? Fast service, isn't what God is in the mix of, He continues to teach us patience, perseverance and persistence. The three "P's"!

All the parables in the Bible have a purpose and even the stories have a purpose. I thought the Bible couldn't apply to me today, but it does and God continues to show me more each day. God wants to teach us that we are to wait patiently for the answers I seek, don't give up, don't lose hope and definitely don't stop asking for God's will to be done. Just as in the parable of the woman asking repeatedly. Luke 11:9-13 ""So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened. "Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead?  Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion? If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him!""

Don't stop asking, don't stop knocking and do it with a teachable heart. God wants us to change and He will use what we are going through to change us, but don't be afraid to keep asking no matter how many times a day. Romans 12:12 "Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer."

Negativity by Graham Cooke

I have written about negativity, but I didn't write it like this. I want to share with you what someone else has written, because I think it is so true. We can either feed it or use it and leave it in God's hands.. 

Every Negative Situation Has a Job to Do in Your Life.

By Graham Cooke

Sometimes we get in this silly mindset that our situation is too big for God. We wouldn’t ever say that, but it’s what we think. Our body language says all of that.

Our current circumstances are ideal soil for our next breakthrough in Christ, and the reason we don’t always like that is because most of the time, we would just like to be rescued.

“I’m a Christian, get me out of here!”

And God says, “You’re kidding, right? I’ve just spent 7 weeks and $10,000 getting you into that situation so I could show you something marvelous about Me!”

Your current circumstances are ideal soil for your next breakthrough in Christ.

In other words, you will not get a better opportunity than right now to become brilliant, to take a step up into a higher place of favor and promise. The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus is always concerned with moving in the opposite spirit, that whatever spirit is coming against you, Jesus teaches you how to come against it.

What does that mean?

You’ve heard me say it a lot of times that when Christ died, it wasn’t just sin that He killed off. He killed off all negativity. I mean literally. He killed off every negative thought, every negative emotion, every negative word, every negative act. He killed off all negativity on the planet. So you’re not allowed to be negative! And I say that very sweetly. You are not allowed to be negative in any way, shape or form.

Every negative, however, has a job to do in your life.

The role of a negative is to reveal its opposite. The role of a negative is to reveal the nature of God. The role of a negative situation is to reveal a promise.

God will simply not allow a negative to be anywhere near you unless its opposite is also present. That is the law of the spirit of life that’s in Christ Jesus.

What does that mean? It means you are fully subject to life as God sees it. So anything that He has killed off, you’re not subject to. Unless, of course, you want to be!

We’re learning how to use the negative, not be used by it.“Well, if that’s there, then something else has to be here. So what’s the opposite of that? That’s what I need to look at,” and when you see the opposite, you can say, “Okay, you can go now,” to the negative.

“You can go now because I see what you brought.” Every negative has a job to do, and its job is to point you to the opposite of what God wants to do.

“What’s the opposite of that? That’s what God is doing. I have that need; I am going to get that provision.”

Do you understand the principle? It’s part of the law of the spirit of life that’s in Christ Jesus. That means you’re never allowed to focus on a negative. You just look at it and think,

“What is the opposite of that? That is what I’m focusing on. You can leave now. This is what God is doing. This is the provision He is marking out for me. This is the promise He has for me. This is what He is developing in me.”

Just Enough

This morning I have been thinking about what it means to be a Christian. What does being a Christian really mean to me? I think I need to look into the Bible to see what it means, because that is where the true answers are, not about what others say, but about what the Bible says. In 1 John 2:4
"Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments is a liar, and the truth is not in him," Do we know what His commandments are? The first and greatest commandment is in
Matthew 22:36-40 "“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” 37 Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ 38 This is the first and greatest commandment. 39 And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself. 40 All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”"

What does it mean to truly love God? I believe it means that life becomes not about self, but about living as God calls me to live. There are many references in the Bible about my words, my actions, how they are suppose to represent Jesus not self. It is every day life, in marriage, in our relationship to my parents, to my kids and families, then it just goes from there. When I love Jesus the most I am wanting to do what He commands me to do, because I want to please Him more than I please myself or others. I want to honor Him more with being honest, I want my actions not to grieve God, but to bring Him glory. Am I more afraid what others think about me or am I more afraid of what God thinks about me. I think I need to be more afraid of what God thinks about how I act than how others that view me or think about me.

What does God say about the fear of the Lord? Psalms 111:10 "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all who follow his precepts have good understanding. To him belongs eternal praise." And it says it again in Proverbs 9:10 "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the Holy One is understanding." What does this kind of fear mean? I don't think it is terror, but I believe it means reverence and respect. When I put God above everything else I show Him great respect, I worry about how He views me, I want to be what He calls me to be, not because of fear, but because I Respect and Reverence Him more than anything else, more than self. When my bosses at work tell me to do something I do it without question, because I know they hold my job in their hands, but when God says to do something do I hold it in such reverence and respect? God has given me many things to do, but am I doing them? God holds everything in His hands, not just my jobs, but more importantly my life. When is the right time to do what He calls me to do? When do I put away the childish games of self and stand firm in God?

I believe He is calling me to be a Christian who is not afraid to stand, who is not afraid to speak the truth and who am I we called to speak it too? God says our first and greatest mission is my home, when my home are falling apart, can I be truly effective in His ministry? What is He calling me to may be different, but He calls us all to put Him first and follow His commands, are we?

Some hard questions, but when I put Him first, the other things fall into place, because no longer is it about self and what I believe, but it comes to what He wants from me. He wants me to bear fruit, to grow. Am I doing just enough to get by? Am I lukewarm?