Everybody struggles. We all struggle with something, some of them are big and some are small. However, big or small they are, struggles are a struggle and they are not fun.
God has shown me that struggles are bad. It is when there is no struggle that we can really be in trouble. If I am not facing a struggle of some kind it means one of two things.
One: I am in one of those awesome mountain top spiritual experiences where out of God's mercy and grace I have rest from struggles for a time. We can't really live there because we live in a fallen world that is dominated by sin and that sin will effect us. I am very thankful for those times. They allow me to be refreshed and reenergized.
Two: I have given up and given in and am no longer in the battle. There is no struggle because I have surrendered. I have not surrendered to Jesus, but to the enemy and it seems everything is fine. It is not fine and somewhere down the road my suurender will lead to great defeat and destruction.
I have learned that when I surrender my life to Jesus, I will face struggles. The stuggles direct me to Jesus. The struggle shows me that Jesus, my Lord and my Friend, is with me in the middle of the struggle.
Allow God in the middle of your struggle to Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls. Jesus will pour the Holy Spirit into your life and also your struggle and will then display His glory to the world.
Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls
Joe
I would rather be in the struggle with Jesus then out of the struggle without Jesus. As you struggle call out and let Jesus be Who He wants to be to you in the middle of your struggle.
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
To Faith or Not To Faith
Faith is a fascinating concept to me. Why can I have strong faith about some things and absolutely no faith about other things. Another thing about faith that causes me to be fascinated is how some people who really shouldn't be peolple of faith are. Let me cite an example. I am studying through the book of Joshua. A few days ago I read chapter 2 which is one of my favorite passages in Scripture because God uses a prostitute from Jericho to accompish His purpose. And if that is not cool enough this prostitute has a huge amonut of faith.
In Joshua 2:4-6, Rhab, that's the prostitute, hides two Israelite spies and then tells the king of Jericho that they had gone. She risked her life believing that these two men represented the true God. Faith will require that we risk. Yes, at time even our very lives.
Then in Joshua 2:9 she tells the spies that she knows God has given Israel the land. Now, Rahab's family could had been occupying that land for hundreds of years. She has faith that God had already given it to Israel. Faith is trusting God will do something before He does it.
Then in Joshua 2:10 Rahab tells the spies that they, Jericho, had heard how the Lord had dried up the Red Sea and that God had helped Israel defeat King Sihon and King Og (love that name). Rahab had not personally witnesses that or even talked to anybody who had, but what she heard that God had done, she believed. Faith is trusting God even when you have not personally witnessed something.
Then in Joshua 2:11 Rahab identifies God as the God in heaven above and on the earth below. This concept of God being a God over all (heaven and earth) is beyond anything that Rahab could have ever been taught by her culture. Her culture like all the cultures of that time saw God as over certain areas or things, but not as a God over all. It take a gracious revelation from God to help her understand, but she did. This again is a huge faith.
Finally in Joshua 2:12-13 she makes the spies swear that Israel will spare her and her family when they conquer Jericho. They agree and tell her what she has to do and in the rest chapter two we see Rahab follow God's commands that allow her and her family to be the only people in Jericho to survive.
God Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls from our lives and from His church will take a Rahab type of faith. A faith that helps us believe the Word of God without reservation, a faith that allows us to in spite of our fears to risk everything for God, a faith that will enable us to trust what we can't see and help us leap beyond our own experiences or feelings about God and trust Him as He really is.
So what I am saying is I want the kind of faith in God that a prostitute from Jericho had.
Joe
In Joshua 2:4-6, Rhab, that's the prostitute, hides two Israelite spies and then tells the king of Jericho that they had gone. She risked her life believing that these two men represented the true God. Faith will require that we risk. Yes, at time even our very lives.
Then in Joshua 2:9 she tells the spies that she knows God has given Israel the land. Now, Rahab's family could had been occupying that land for hundreds of years. She has faith that God had already given it to Israel. Faith is trusting God will do something before He does it.
Then in Joshua 2:10 Rahab tells the spies that they, Jericho, had heard how the Lord had dried up the Red Sea and that God had helped Israel defeat King Sihon and King Og (love that name). Rahab had not personally witnesses that or even talked to anybody who had, but what she heard that God had done, she believed. Faith is trusting God even when you have not personally witnessed something.
Then in Joshua 2:11 Rahab identifies God as the God in heaven above and on the earth below. This concept of God being a God over all (heaven and earth) is beyond anything that Rahab could have ever been taught by her culture. Her culture like all the cultures of that time saw God as over certain areas or things, but not as a God over all. It take a gracious revelation from God to help her understand, but she did. This again is a huge faith.
Finally in Joshua 2:12-13 she makes the spies swear that Israel will spare her and her family when they conquer Jericho. They agree and tell her what she has to do and in the rest chapter two we see Rahab follow God's commands that allow her and her family to be the only people in Jericho to survive.
God Raising the Roof and Removing the Walls from our lives and from His church will take a Rahab type of faith. A faith that helps us believe the Word of God without reservation, a faith that allows us to in spite of our fears to risk everything for God, a faith that will enable us to trust what we can't see and help us leap beyond our own experiences or feelings about God and trust Him as He really is.
So what I am saying is I want the kind of faith in God that a prostitute from Jericho had.
Joe
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Real Faith
I have read James 2:25 many times. It says, "In the same way, was not even Rahab the prostitute considered righteous for what she did when she gave lodging to the spies and sent them off in a different direction?" I have always thought it is was cool of God to use a prostitute because then when people tell me that God can't use somebody becasue of what they did in their past I can point out to them that God used Rahab, a prostitute. It also convicts me when I make excuses to God about why I can't to certain things and He reminds me that He used Rhab, a prostitute.
That verse in James was nice, but to be honest it was just that nice. And then I was reading Joshua chapter two, the story of Rahab and Wow! God took that passage and showed me some awesome faith in this prostitute. Rhab. In verse nine, she tells the spies that she knows that God has already given the land to Israel. In verse ten she tells the spies about how she believed the accounts of God drying up the Red Sea and how God helped Israel defeat King Sihon and King Og. She did not see theseevents are have any physical proof, but she believed. Then in verse eleven she tells them that she knows that God is God in heaven above and the earth below. In her culture gods were see as having control of areas or territories. Rahab expresses faith that God is the God of everything. Then finally she has faith that if she helps the spies that God will spare her and her family. When the spies tell her what to do to make sure that her and her famiy are spared, she does it.
So now I read James 2:25 with more awe for what God can do and who He can do it though and more respect for Rahab's faith. She had a faith which showed trust in God and lead to action with God. I believe that God wants to Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls in my life, in my church, in all other believers' lives and in all God's churches. If I really believe that I should be willing to obey God to do anything He wants to move that along.
Joe
That verse in James was nice, but to be honest it was just that nice. And then I was reading Joshua chapter two, the story of Rahab and Wow! God took that passage and showed me some awesome faith in this prostitute. Rhab. In verse nine, she tells the spies that she knows that God has already given the land to Israel. In verse ten she tells the spies about how she believed the accounts of God drying up the Red Sea and how God helped Israel defeat King Sihon and King Og. She did not see theseevents are have any physical proof, but she believed. Then in verse eleven she tells them that she knows that God is God in heaven above and the earth below. In her culture gods were see as having control of areas or territories. Rahab expresses faith that God is the God of everything. Then finally she has faith that if she helps the spies that God will spare her and her family. When the spies tell her what to do to make sure that her and her famiy are spared, she does it.
So now I read James 2:25 with more awe for what God can do and who He can do it though and more respect for Rahab's faith. She had a faith which showed trust in God and lead to action with God. I believe that God wants to Raise the Roof and Remove the Walls in my life, in my church, in all other believers' lives and in all God's churches. If I really believe that I should be willing to obey God to do anything He wants to move that along.
Joe
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)