Filling in the Blank

“The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed.”

Romans 8:19

 

 

How do you think God might fill in the blank below concerning your life?

I want to do ________________________________ with your life!

What are your expectations of God’s will for your life?

Is it that you might move mountains by your faith in Him

Or

Is it enough to only believe that God wants you at church next Sunday?

Not that I have anything against church attendance but I suspect God just might have bigger plans for you and I than that.

We settle well short of what He wants to do.

We began the week with the same challenge – don’t put limits on God.

I want to end it by asking you to allow that blank line above to provoke you to prayer.

Seek God’s maximum and not your minimum.

Don’t be a “settler” when it comes to fulfilling your destiny.

Consider this – maybe – just maybe your life purposes being fulfilled are part of the “greater works” that Jesus spoke of.

One way that we honor Him is through obediently completing the works He gives us to do.

But if we can only believe God for the simplest of things then we miss His best for us.

And creation misses out on one of the sons of God it is waiting to be revealed.

We have been buffeted by strong winds the last 24 hours.

They have left an impact in our area of western New York state.

Should Jesus tarry and you are called home to be with Him;

what impact will the life you lived for Him leave on others?

How will you fill in that blank?

The "All Our Ducks In a Row" Church

“Then I will give you shepherds after my own heart,

who will lead you with knowledge and understanding.”

Jeremiah 3:15

 

God never calls ‘managers’ to shepherd His church.

He calls leaders.

Leaders lead.

To lead is quite different than to manage.

Some of the best leaders tip over the apple cart, they break it into pieces and they burn it up.

Why?

Because, so often a ‘well managed’ church is a church where everything runs so smoothly that there are absolutely no hiccups and the last time God stopped by for a visit He was escorted out the door.

Ministry can get messy.

We have looked at the fact that if your God can only do what you can explain then you have a pretty shallow God!

But we like routine.

Our flesh likes all our ducks in a row. 

We put plans and programs into place that may not, of themselves, be wrong but too often they exclude the supernatural move of God.

After all, that wasn’t planned for nor is it welcome.

A manager will not do well with this.

The man called of God to lead will recognize that ultimately he leads under the authority and direction of the Holy Spirit and the church is not a business, it is the very Body of Christ to do with as He wills.   

Of course, we do not have license to surrender to reckless abandon.  

Rather, it is a surrender to the Spirit of God, allowing Him to move as He will!

I don’t want to reduce this blog simply to trite sayings and cliché’s but I do remember something I used to hear that makes a lot of sense:

Let go and let God!

God will lead us to the degree we learn to follow Him.

 

 

Spirit of the Living God

“And I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Counselor to be with you forever – the Spirit of Truth. The world cannot accept Him, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him. But you know Him, for He lives with you and will be in you.”

John 14:16-17

 

So you want to expand the limits of what the Holy Spirit can do through you?

How is that accomplished?

Cultivate an on-going and deeper relationship with Him.

Notice that I did not say “it” but rather “Him”.

The Holy Spirit is the third person of the Trinity and not some cosmic touchy-feely force.

For a model, we need only observe how Jesus spoke of Him:

  

“…but if I go, I will send Him to you…”

“He will guide you into all truth…”

“…He will bring glory to me…”

When we disrespect or ignore the Holy Spirit we are disrespecting and ignoring the Father and the Son.

Jesus actually had some parting words for His disciples we know as the “Great Commission”.

But as “Great” as that commission was it can be said that it wasn’t truly “launched” until the Day of Pentecost when they received that empowering of the Holy Spirit

to be witnesses for the Lord.

Maybe you’ve allowed pop culture to frame your view of the Holy Spirit rather than the Word of God.

Go back to the Word and see the evidence of God’s Spirit at creation, in the Old Testament stories and working in the life of Jesus.

Commit to being deliberate in developing a relationship with the Holy Spirit.

He can open your eyes to the limitless, infinite and loving God we serve!

We Won’t Understand It All

“When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away, and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing. Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea."

Acts 8:39-40

Do you suppose Phillip had advance notice of his sudden and supernatural relocation?

Somehow, I doubt God announced what He was about to do.

Maybe if He had, Phillip would stand there, scratching his head and saying:

“What exactly is it you want to do again?”

God is not against reasoning.

Sometimes, though, our reasoning just can’t get us to the place that God needs us to be at.

The understanding He wants us to have is this – we won’t understand it all!

The Holy Spirit can do more through you than you can imagine.

That is not an indictment of us for not having a vivid imagination.

God’s ways and His methods are so far above what we can know or imagine that we must realize that sometimes He will use us and we won’t always be prepared for the “how”!

Phillip did not know ahead of time concerning his trip.

As Peter waited in the upper room moments before the rushing mighty wind, I doubt he was aware that he was about to stand up, lift his voice and speak to a crowd only to see 3,000 brought into the Kingdom of God that day.

In the Book of Revelation John declares: “On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit…”

It was not in his Outlook Calendar that on that particular day he would receive the Revelation of Jesus Christ.

So what did Phillip, Peter and John do?

Better question – what did they not do?

They did not put the brakes on what God was doing because they couldn’t understand it all.

Because of their obedience God was able to use them in wonderful and powerful ways.

Maybe you’ve been in the place where, even if you didn’t speak the words, your lack of understanding has brought fear or hesitation in allowing God to move through you.

Be honest with the Lord and tell Him so.

Ask Him to help you to grow in your trust and faith in Him.

Ask for His purposes to be fulfilled in you even when it is unexpected and unexplainable.

If God could always be figured out by you and me He wouldn’t be God!

 

 

God Did What?

“So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth.

 Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?”

“From childhood,” he answered.  “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.”

 “‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for him who believes.”

 Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

Mark 9:20-24Cross references:

A.Mark 9:20 : Mk 1:26

B.Mark 9:23 : S Mt 21:21; Mk 11:23; Jn 11:40

Let’s say we ask God to increase our faith this week, shall we?

This blog is written primarily to those who know Christ and desire to grow in their walk with Him.

Having said that, let me ask you a question? What story, in all of scripture, of God’s demonstrated power is the hardest for you to wrap your head around?

Maybe it’s the finger writing on the wall recorded in Daniel.

Perhaps you are just blown away by the coin retrieved from a fish’s mouth, used to pay a tax.

I’m not saying you don’t believe every word in the Word it’s just that maybe you have a story from scripture that contains the “wow” factor for you personally.

I think we probably all do.

Do we all experience the thought that that was then and this is now?

God worked the way He did then because He had to.

He didn’t have the technology then that man has gifted to Him now at His disposal.

Pretty flimsy excuse isn’t it?

Why do we put artificial limits on God?

Maybe we’re just too ‘sophisticated’ to believe a man could literally be swallowed by a big fish!

If we are, God help our ‘sophistication’ (which could be spelled u-n-b-e-l-i-e-f)!

I told you that this blog was written for Christ followers – and it is – but even as His disciples we sometimes struggle with God working in our lives today as He did in the way we read in scripture.

Like the boys’ father in today’s scripture we declare:

“I do believe, help me overcome my unbelief!”

May that be both your prayer and your expectation as we explore this topic more closely over the next several days.

Jesus Never Meant it for Weight Loss

“Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not drive it out?” And He said to them, “Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you. But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”

Matthew 17:19-21 (NASB)

 

Has it gotten tough yet?

Are you ready to throw in the towel?

Maybe it’s’ as simple as turning off the TV to avoid too many tempting pizza commercials.

You see, God has called His Place to a 21 day fast.

This week we are seeking an encounter with Him.

Fasting is something Jesus taught for His followers when their prayers sometimes seem to be hindered, as we read above.

Fasting was something Jesus did.

His command to His disciples of “…when you fast…” was not a

do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do

edict but instead a recognition of the need for fasting in a believers life.

Jesus never said “if” you fast but rather “when” you fast.  

We have been talking of late about what to do when prayer goes unanswered.

We stand in faith; we pray with others and we sometimes fast!

Fasting can be trendy and popular for reasons other than prayer.

But we are not responding to a health or pop cultural fad but a call from God.

Make no mistake, though, fasting will test your flesh.

Will your flesh rule or will the Spirit of God be given the priority.

Fasting is a time to honor God by bringing the flesh under subjection.  

It is a time when we more earnestly and intently seek God and His direction.

Fasting is not so much to move the hand of God as it is to incline the ear of man to hear God.

Listen, because that answer you sought may be forthcoming, as you fast.

My Answer May Be Waiting on Your Prayer

“Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for,

it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.”

Matthew 18:19

 

 

If you find that your prayers are hindered – ask yourself if you have been praying with others!

The prayer of agreement may be how God brings that long awaited answer.

We all struggle from time to time.

Still, some are of the mind-set that they will pull themselves up by the own boot-straps, continue to pray by themselves and wait for the answer.

“My problems are nobody else’s business!” they say.

But what if the answer is waiting because God has determined it will only be delivered through the prayer of agreement?

Would you want to intentionally miss it?

Of course not!

But that is what we are setting ourselves up for when we only and always try to go it alone.

You know very well that we are not intended to walk this walk alone.

Sure, there are solitary seasons and moments just between the Lord and you.

But God established His church, not His churches!

He set us among, and with, other believers; those described in II Peter 1:1 as

 being of  “…like precious faith…”

There can be many reasons why our prayers are hindered but don’t let pride be one of them.

God may have the answer right outside your door.

Maybe He’s just waiting on you to pray together with that “…brother of low estate…” because He wants to teach you that He hears and answers the prayers of all His children when they pray in faith and not just because they sound or look “right” to you!

So you see that the prayer of agreement requires humility on my part to recognize

that my answer may be waiting on your prayer!