Colossians 1:10 That ye might walk worthy of the Lord unto all pleasing, being fruitful in every good work, and increasing in the knowledge of God;
Just over four months ago, our second, Obadiah was born and he’s grown so much! It’s amazing to me how fast these kids grow. He has long since outgrown his newborn clothes and is now fitting into nine month outfits, sheesh! Weighing in originally at just over 8.1 lbs, he’s already pushing 20! He likes to eat — the kid can’t get enough!
In this way, as we seek to serve the Lord, we need to love to eat His word. We need to be in a place where we can’t get enough time with the Lord, worshipping Him, studying, praying fervently! We want to outgrow our spiritual clothes!
We have been given a calling by the Lord which seems all too huge — clothes too big! We are called to be part of a royal priesthood, set a good example to the world around us, love our neighbor as ourselves, share the good news of Messiah, and later to sit at the Lord’s right hand and rule with Him! I would say that those are big clothes to fit, but this is the Lord just showing us that we need to grow into our calling — we need to grow into our royal positions! These tasks may seem too large for us but the Lord wants us to grow into the ministry He is calling us to!
Don’t worry if your clothes seem to large now. Spend time in prayer and worship — leave sin and the power of sin over your life behind you — be filled in His power to live out your calling. You will soon fill the clothes that He has prepared for you! There’s so much work to be done!
Ephesians 4:3-6 Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is one body, and one Spirit, even as ye are called in one hope of your calling; One Lord, one faith, one baptism, One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all.
Yesterday, a good pastor friend of ours told us that his congregation was experiencing some hardships and division. How often does this happen among us? It breaks my heart — and I believe the Lord weeps over this too.
Aesop wrote a fable about four bulls who were the best of friends. They always kept close to each other so that in the event that danger came their way, they would face it together. They traveled together, grazed together, and lay down to rest together.
One day, a hungry lion who lived nearby spotted these four friends and became determined to catch one. He was no match for all four of them at once, so he would follow them and watch carefully, hoping to catch one alone. Every time he saw one lagging the least bit behind, he would sneak up and whisper to him that the others had been saying unkind things about him. This, he did with each bull until finally all four began to feel suspicious and uneasy around one another. Each thought that the other three were plotting against him.
When the lion succeeded in breaking the trust among them, the bulls went their separate ways……. and one by one, he devoured them.
I’m sure you can see the analogy here. The enemy would love nothing more than to divide us and break the trust among us in the body of Messiah. He knows full well that if he can just get us separated, he can come in for the kill!
Let’s not allow the devil to play out his wicked scheme! Be on guard! Don’t gossip — overlook offenses — pray with one another and be determined to stick together, so that we may accomplish great and mighty things for God’s kingdom! There’s power in numbers — and there’s SO much work to be done!
Psalm 3:8 Salvation belongeth unto the LORD: thy blessing is upon thy people.
Jesus told His disciples to go into the deep waters and let down their nets for fish. When they did, their nets were filled up with fish to the point of breaking. Being fishermen and businessmen, they may have been tempted to start doing business. I mean, think how much they could make!
But God had a different purpose. The disciples’ occupation as fishermen was just a vehicle for God to demonstrate His great power and love. He wasn’t blessing them with fish so that they would get excited about fishing — He was blessing them with fish so that they could get their eyes off their fishing and on to the greater call He had for them! Thankfully, they left the fishing business and went off with the Lord to do great and mighty things.
Too many of us are wrapped up in fish. We seek the Lord for His blessings, prosperity, and success. But true discipleship is focusing not on the blessings of the Lord, but on the Lord of the blessings!
We can rejoice in our blessings, but let’s not dwell on them! Let’s set our eyes on the Lord and the calling He has for us. When He sees that we have pure and willing hearts, He will be faithful to use us to accomplish His glorious plan!
Revelation 5:10 And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.
Ever use that phrase on your kids? “Come on, will you grow up already?!”
As our little three year old explorer, Elianna, is becoming more agile and able to communicate her desires, she’s discovering more opportunities each day — climbing on the furniture, opening the refrigerator and asking for various items, reaching things she was never able to reach before, whew! She’s experiencing her new freedom and we’re experiencing major exhaustion! But we’ve noticed that with her new found freedom comes the desire to have even more freedom — and when something doesn’t go quite the way she wants when she wants it, uh - oh, look out. Screaming, crying the whole nine yards. We are trying to teach her that this kind of behavior is not acceptable but it seems that she won’t fully understand that concept until she “grows up” a bit.
One sign of maturity is the ability to delay gratification, or deny it completely. Wanting our way when we want it is childish behavior and doesn’t work with God’s plan for an anointed life! This may sound harsh, but I’m speaking to myself too!
There are no shortcuts to God. We cannot demand our way and our timing with Him. He has a perfect plan based upon His desires and His timing and if we want to go God’s way, we must comply! And not only that, the things of God take time too — developing a strong and anointed prayer life takes time a focused mind and spent with the Father, it doesn’t come overnight. Reading and understanding the Word and applying it to our lives, it takes time and much practice!
Let’s grow up today. God wants us to be a mature bride — one ready to rule with Him when He comes! There’s so much work to do!
Isaiah 43:19 Behold, I will do a new thing; now it shall spring forth; shall ye not know it? I will even make a way in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert.
Did you know that on a rocket’s journey, the most force is exerted at its lift-off? The amount of force that is needed to get that rocket off the ground is so fierce that it could easily blow the whole thing to pieces. Interestingly though, the further the rocket moves from the earth’s gravitational pull, the less energy it needs to move farther along.
Isn’t it true with us as well? Whether it’s breaking a habit, losing those first few pounds or learning something new, taking our first step into a new thing is the hardest part. That initial step always takes the most effort, the most energy. If we keep pressing on, however, it becomes easier and easier to move ahead!
As many of you know, the fact that we have moved ourselves and our ministry here is nothing short of a miracle! God has sustained us as we have pressed ahead through all the difficulties of acclimating to a new language and culture, pioneering a powerful ministry, and living by faith for all our physical needs.
We have come to Israel with a vision and purpose that we truly believe is from God. That vision includes a number of endeavors such as a relief center for needy and hurting Israelis, a leadership training center and much, much more! In so many ways, we, like that rocket are just in our beginning steps of take-off. Please stand in prayer with us as we press ahead to bigger and better things for the Kingdom!
Perhaps there is something new He wants you to be doing! God wants us to get out of our comfort zones and take that first step of faith so that we can see just how truly awesome He is! Together, let’s take our first steps into something new!
Increase
Decrease