Often we find ourselves in a fog, wondering where God is in our circumstances. We may feel as though we made a decision to follow the Lord way back when, but the enemy would have us convinced that all those decisions for what we believed was right and honorable have left us in the middle of the desert. You think, after all these years life should be more comfortable, but instead you feel like your life is in a wilderness and everything you believed is being tested. You are not alone though you may think you are. How you handle the wilderness will be the defining moment in your Christianity. You said you wanted to serve God and be his disciple, but what you may fail to realize is; there is no effective ministry without a wilderness. Matthew 4:1, Jesus is led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness. This wilderness is for His glory. This wilderness is defining your call. Many a young person may think it well to serve God without fully removing the harmful effects of sin, pride, or rebellion, but without a wilderness you will serve God by what is born out of ‘pop culture’ pursuing what is popular and not what is holy. Remember Moses? It was the wilderness that led him to a place of holy ground. The wilderness defines my call by leading me to holy ground to meet a holy God not given to the popular, but to the pure. The wilderness defines my identity as being in Christ and in Him alone because there is nothing else to cling to. It is here the enemy comes to question your sonship saying, ‘If you’re a son, then do this or do that for instant comfort’ but in the wilderness you must discover it is Christ alone your hope of glory. It is a place of understanding my identity as the Apostle Paul said, “I have been crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me….” You may feel you have spent your whole life serving people and even family, only to be kicked in the teeth. You may have worked so hard to accomplish some purpose only to be disappointed in some way, yet is it the wilderness that defines my God. He uses the wilderness to prove the true object of my affection. Was my service just my gratification or was it for His glory? You see, the wilderness makes the object of our affection very clear; will my god prove to be self as I bemoan the circumstance, or will I recognize the greatness of our God by completely trusting Him as I offer Him my praise. Often we have come to make worship about the “lights, camera and the action”. In the wilderness, He proves there is no power but His, and He wants to be the main attraction. While He makes us to sing, it’s not the music, it is the message. Jesus said in the wilderness, “man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the Mouth of God”. The good news is, this wilderness will define your victory by advancing the kingdom for God’s glory. Just remember this fact from the life of Christ; wilderness advances the kingdom (Matt.4:17;19). As you are hidden in Christ and His life is yours, you will advance His cause bringing many sons to glory. The wilderness God is using produces glory every time. After the wilderness, Moses saw God liberate a nation in just a few days. After the wilderness, Jesus moved with might and power. And this wilderness you may find yourself in at this present hour is for His glory to give you a future and hope that through your tried and proven testimony He lives, He moves, He saves, He redeems, and He alone is able to rescue and recover when no one else can. God is using your wilderness to define your Christian faith so embrace it, embrace Him and glory will follow.
Category: Impression
Today I Call You Sons
On a morning shortly before the new year I found myself at a troubled place wanting to hear the Father speak a word to my heart; it was then I was reminded of this scripture in Psalm 5:3; which says: “In the morning I will order my prayer to Thee and eagerly watch”. David prayed this prayer with a heavy heart to remove his groaning cry; it was a prayer that could shelter his soul from evil and keep his path straight. My prayer began with just a glimpse of how my life had grieved the heavenly Father by saying, ‘Lord I want to be Your son–a vessel you can use, so remove all my failures–I don’t want to fail you as a son….’ As I continued to follow the word I had heard and watch, I believe the Lord spoke clearly by saying: “Your many devices grieve Me because in them you believe they help you know Me, and nothing could be further from the truth. Worship has become just another song on an endless playlist made common by meaningless repetition, but still you’re moved no closer to my heart to know Me….You grieve Me in that you look to preach to others and your the man I wish to speak to as a son….You can easily see the moral failures of others but will you see yourself?… I made you to be My son, My ambassador.” Interestingly enough the word I heard refreshed my heart namely because I believe it was spoken by a loving Father who had my best interest in mind. I further took great encouragement in His endearing reference to me as “son.” You see, if that word makes you angry, you will likely miss the Love the Heavenly Father has for you as a son. Do you contemplate your life as God’s son? To all sons He would ask: just where is your treasure?; And what has your ear?; Where is the leaning of your heart and to whom do you cry?; And whereby is your life occupied? Today, He calls you son if you hear His voice. In this new Year will you hear His voice, or will you just be content to go thru life understanding your God from a distance, semi-friendly with the knowledge of Him and missing your place as a son?
Are You Saved?
“Are you saved?” I can remember as child a Baptist preacher saying every week without fail the words; ‘Are You saved?’ I believe those 3 words are possibly Baptist’s greatest contribution to the faith. You may know a lot about Him, but do you know Him? If there is no grieving or sorrow over your sinful condition…no witness of the Spirit, then you don’t know Him. For Jesus to truly save you, you must believe you are drowning and in need of saving—otherwise the broken cry for a savior is not heard and He cannot save. It is a matter of need…do you need Him? Do you see your very real need of His love and forgiveness? Or, do you see yourself ‘pretty good’– never considering that one sin…it’s rebellion like witchcraft that has you under a spell of deception never considering yourself that bad; it is your only weak link, but it is powerful enough to destroy your whole life with that one unredeemed failure. I see God is not mocked and sin must be atoned for. What are you doing and where are you taking your sin for atonement? Because what He takes, He covers–what He covers, He redeems, what He redeems He changes, and what He changes He keeps for Himself with a movement of the Spirit that directs my steps to increase as His disciple and witness. So, I ask you again, “Are You Saved…Are You Really Saved?”
The Counsel of the Rock
I recently found myself thinking of the failures of the past and felt shame…are you living under shame? Shame is a covering of the enemy to protect his domain and he will use it to wrap you in his plans and identify your life with failure. If you remain under its tutelage it will hinder or even destroy the plan of God for your life. Shame is a destroyer of confidence with God, unknowingly it seeks to wrap you in its garment to neutralize your purpose and steal away God’s plan for your life. I began seeing something about this shame and what I want to present this to you that shame is as counsel. Are you under its advisement? Are you hindered by doubts, fears, self-justification and feelings of inadequacy? These thoughts are nothing more than idolatry, they are worried about preserving your life according to your own self centered view. Think of it this way, these thoughts will lead you to fashion and shape life according to fears and not by faith. I like the illustration I heard recently that man molds with butter, but God molds with clay. They both are shaped to fit a useful ideal however, when the fires of opposition come, one melts, the other becomes hardened to a vessel fit for the Master’s use. Isaiah 42:17 confirms that shame is rooted in idolatry by saying those who trust in idols will be put to shame. Living under the counsel of shame upholds yesterday, it is old man thinking, self talk and self right living, but cannot provide the Grace necessary to walk uprightly, for it only skews my view of things. Seeing my world view, real or imagined, only hindered me from moving in what I knew to be God’s will for those who find their identity in Him. I began seeing my need for God’s presence because it magnifies my position in Christ, whose worth cannot be compared to my ideal which is idolatry and will counterfeit Christ but never produce His image. I need the Counsel of the Rock! Hebrews 12:1-2 says, ‘lay aside the sin that so easily entangles you’. This sin has been the obsession of your whole life, it has colored and clouded your thoughts with shame and it keeps you from finding the steadfast counsel of the Rock. Hebrews 12 continues by saying, ‘Fix your eyes on Jesus.’ He is the rock of your salvation, the perfecter of your faith. It is a faith cleft within the Rock to enable you to see yourself covered by the image of the son. There under His shadow will you find cleansing, covering and a counsel leading you to despise the covering of shame. Hebrews 12:2 says in effect let your life be molded in the image of one who endured the cross, by despising the shame in order to obtain His place in the presence of God.
GraceLife 