Fantastic Friday #408 Obedience

Obedience

¹⁶ The descendants of Jehonadab son of Rekab have carried out the command their forefather gave them, but these people have not obeyed me.’
¹⁷ “Therefore this is what the Lord God Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘Listen! I am going to bring on Judah and on everyone living in Jerusalem every disaster I pronounced against them. I spoke to them, but they did not listen; I called to them, but they did not answer.’”
¹⁸ Then Jeremiah said to the family of the Rekabites, “This is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘You have obeyed the command of your forefather Jehonadab and have followed all his instructions and have done everything he ordered.’ ¹⁹ Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: ‘Jehonadab son of Rekab will never fail to have a descendant to serve me.’” Jeremiah 35:16-19

Do you find it hard sometimes to be obedient?  Maybe at times you struggle and your mind tends to slip away from the focus being on what God wants for you.  Or, it could be a time when you try and make a deal with God that you will do whatever it is later, whether reading His Word or helping someone who really needs it.  With either scenario, your lack of obedience tends to create a separation you have made by turning your back on God and this falls right into the enemy's hands. He wants you to be disobedient and not follow the path God sets out for you.  The enemy also wants you to make deals with God, when we all know God does not make deals.  So how do we battle our own disobedience?  Take a look at this scripture from Jeremiah.  The Rekabites, a relatively obscure group of people in the Bible, were told many years earlier not to partake of wine, not by God, but by their forefathers. God uses these people as an example to the people of Judah who were being disobedient.  If the Rekabites could be obedient to their forefathers, why couldn't the people of Judah be obedient to God who had provided them everything?  Through their disobedience these people of Judah suffered and the Rekabites were promised to always be able to serve God because of their obedience.  If you get a chance today, read the entire chapter in Jeremiah, I think you will see an interesting picture of obedience and reward. It is not easy sometimes to be obedient, because we let the enemy put doubt in our minds. It is now important to think about how you can be obedient to God and not turn your back on Him and all He has given us. 


Have a great weekend.

Fantastic Friday #407 - Complacent

Complacent

³ If anyone teaches otherwise and does not agree to the sound instruction of our Lord Jesus Christ and to godly teaching, ⁴ they are conceited and understand nothing. They have an unhealthy interest in controversies and quarrels about words that result in envy, strife, malicious talk, evil suspicions ⁵ and constant friction between people of corrupt mind, who have been robbed of the truth and who think that godliness is a means to financial gain.⁶ But godliness with contentment is great gain. 1 Timothy 6:3-6

Do you have the experience of knowing or seeing people who are really pleased with themselves, or they are overly satisfied with their situation?  Do you know people who seem to act like they know it all about God and what God has planned for their life?  I look at the life of Paul who was humble and never seemed satisfied with just living a life that focused on his needs, but more on needs of others and making sure others knew about Jesus.  His friend Timothy was urged to give instructions to the church about opposing false teachers. He also gave instruction on how to worship, church leadership, and basically how to devote yourself to God.  In some ways he was stern and bold, but he was not overly satisfied with his own circumstances and felt led to share what God wanted him to share.  When people get overly satisfied with themselves, they tend to get complacent. Complacency can make them forget who they are in Christ.  It is important not to be complacent, but focus your efforts on Godliness, because as verse 6 says, this along with contentment provides great gain. No complacency allowed.

Have a great weekend.

Fantastic Friday #406 - Magnificence

Magnificence

²³ Listen and hear my voice;
    pay attention and hear what I say.
²⁴ When a farmer plows for planting, does he plow continually?
    Does he keep on breaking up and working the soil?
²⁵ When he has leveled the surface,
    does he not sow caraway and scatter cumin?
Does he not plant wheat in its place,
    barley in its plot,
    and spelt in its field?
²⁶ His God instructs him
    and teaches him the right way.

²⁷ Caraway is not threshed with a sledge,
    nor is the wheel of a cart rolled over cumin;
caraway is beaten out with a rod,
    and cumin with a stick.
²⁸ Grain must be ground to make bread;
    so one does not go on threshing it forever.
The wheels of a threshing cart may be rolled over it,
    but one does not use horses to grind grain.
²⁹ All this also comes from the Lord Almighty,
    whose plan is wonderful,
    whose wisdom is magnificent. Isaiah 28:23-29
 When I began looking at this week's writing and scripture, I thought about just including verse 29.  The more I read over and over again, I could not ignore verses 23-28 because of the full picture this grouping of verses show.  I think magnificent is a great word that is underutilized in our society today. We may say that something is great, awesome, or just cool, but how many of us use the word magnificent to describe our view of something.  If you look closely at this scripture, it paints a picture of a farmer who is being guided by the Lord to work and provide grain for food.  It gives full credit to our Lord Almighty for all these actions that this farmer performs.  How many of us look at our daily work or families as being full of magnificence.  Maybe we don't look at these things in this way because we are looking at them as human-controlled and not God-controlled.  If we view our Father as the Wonderful God He is; and we view His wisdom and creation as being full of magnificence, then maybe our view of work and family would be changed.  Take a look at your magnificent life and family and realize that the magnificence comes from God and not you.

Have a great weekend.

Fantastic Friday #405- Senses

Senses

³³ Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.” ³⁴ Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame. 1 Corinthians 15:33-34

I wonder if when people say "come back to your senses" they actually know what they are saying.  What are senses anyway?  Touch, taste, see, smell and hear are all senses, and when they are put all together they are a very powerful force.  What happens when we ignore what the Lord commands, and only focus on  something bad that makes us feel good for a short period?  Sometimes our senses deceive us to take the wrong path.  Have you ever thought of the Holy Spirit and how the Spirit guides you and your senses?  Sometimes we get caught up in what other people are doing by watching them and if these people are of bad character we can easily ignore what we should be doing and follow them. All the while the Holy Spirit is nudging us not to participate in this poor behavior.  Kind of like a sense that overpowers the other five if we listen and feel what the Spirit is doing in us. Don't be misled by your senses or others, but be led by the Spirit.

Have a great weekend.

Fantastic Friday #404 - Reverence

Reverence


²⁸ Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, ²⁹ for our “God is a consuming fire.” Hebrews 12:28-29

This past few weeks I have observed athletes, stars, and musicians achieve great earthly feats.  Some of them thank God for their gifts, and some definitely do not thank anyone but their friends, colleagues or they acknowledge their own efforts.  When we begin to think of our own accomplishments in a self aggrandizing way, this totally ignores the true One who we should be considering when we achieve great things and puts the focus solely on us.  While God should be number one on our thankful list, we often allow ourselves to get caught up in our own success. When you hear the word reverence, what comes to mind?  Maybe it is holiness, humbleness, calmness, or genuineness.  All of these words may or may not describe what you were thinking, but they give a good picture of what reverence could or should be.  We definitely know that it is not a loud, boisterous, "I am Awesome" environment when we hear this word and try to describe it.  When you think of humbling yourself in a reverent manner and thank God for His gifts He has provided, you would be surprised about how much more you notice of God's influence in your life.  We all can be shaken at one time or another with the focus of self, but we also can be calmed with a reverent and solemn worship of our Father in Heaven. 

Have a great weekend.

Fantastic Friday #403 - Undying

Undying

²⁴ Grace to all who love our Lord Jesus Christ with an undying love. Ephesians 6:24

¹⁷ The world and its desires pass away, but whoever does the will of God lives forever. 1 John 2:17

I came across this first scripture this week and it made me think, what actually is undying and what does it mean.  I know it means unending, but can you put this into perspective when you think about loving God in an unending way.  How many of us look at our family members with an undying love?   My guess is most of us love our family members unconditionally and look past their faults and shortcomings, but how many of us love our Father in Heaven with an undying love.  Jesus commanded us to Love the Lord with all our heart.  If we tend to love things and desires of this world, how hard should it be to have an undying love for the Lord?  I am not saying because the things of this world pass away that we shouldn't love our family.  However, we need to think of who our unending love should be for, and if we do the will of our Father, look at how we truly will end up living. Undying Love, Living Forever. I can see the correlation, and hope that you can too.

Have a great weekend.

Fantastic Friday #402 - Hole

Hole

⁹ It is the Sovereign Lord who helps me.
    Who will condemn me?
They will all wear out like a garment;
    the moths will eat them up.
¹⁰ Who among you fears the Lord
    and obeys the word of his servant?
Let the one who walks in the dark,
    who has no light,
trust in the name of the Lord
    and rely on their God. Isaiah 50:9-10

Do find those people in your life that wear you out or take a toll on you?  It's almost like that hole in your pocket that things fall out of, and the more you mess with it, the larger the hole gets.  Maybe it isn't people that annoy you that wear you out, but people that attack what you believe in or find any way to place their own hole in your moral code.  They aren't doing it to you directly, but you see it on the news, in the media, or in social media and it makes you question where you are and what you believe in when they start poking around.  There are people in our lives every day, whether you know them or not, who will attack your belief in God and how He guides your life.  The thing is, these kinds of people who are near and far should not take a toll on us or wear us out, because they can only get in our pocket to start a hole if we let them in.  If you fear God and are humbly obedient to His commands, you will walk in the light and nothing these people say or do can extinguish that light.  They won't be able to punch holes in our belief system and they definitely won't make that hole larger. As the scripture says, Our "Sovereign Lord helps me", he doesn't allow the hole in our pocket to grow bigger and allow things to fall out.

Have a great weekend.