So, another lesson I learned from the story of Balaam is the power of Words. King Balak wanted Balaam to curse the Israelites. For it was known whoever he blessed was blessed and whoever he cursed was cursed.
This really stood out to me. There is POWER in words! I mean really, think about it....so what if Balaam cursed the Israelites? It's just words.. right? But it was a great concern to God. So much so he had an angel ready to strike Balaam down if he continued down that path. So, much so that he made a donkey speak to get Balaam's attention to not do it. There is power in words!
We must be so careful what we say. That is why the Bible is always telling us to speak life! That there is life and death in what we say. Proverbs 18:21 says - "Death and life are in the power of the tounge. And those who love it will eat it's fruit." In other words what you say will happen. What you speak is what you believe.You are either blessing yourself or cursing yourself.
Do not ever think lightly of it. Speak blessings and not curses.
SPEAK LIFE!
Monday, February 28, 2011
Balaam's Heart
Well, even though I am in Exodus right now I am jumping ahead to Numbers 22. I recently had to share on the story of Balaam with the children I work with at church. So, this message is burning in my heart.
This morning as I spent time before the Lord I felt very convicted. I realized I too had a heart like Balaam. I have been making excuses to do what I want to do and worse...then resting on God's grace! That is so dangerous!!!
Aside from the Word I also have been reading a book called "In His Face" by Bob Sorge. In his chapter titled, In Hollywood's Face he writes, "You watch TV instead of praying because you enjoy food offered up to idols." The world practices and portrays it's idolatry on TV. You would never do the things they do on TV, because you don't serve their idols. But when you watch them do it, you are eating the food they offer to their idols.
It is very clear in the Bible that we can NOT have both the world and God. Either we choose the world or we choose God. It's very cut and dry.
The cross before me, the world behind me...no turning back! No turning back!
I realized I was so guilty of this. Not guilty of watching TV but guilty of wanting to watch a show or spend time on the computer more then I wanted to read God's Word. More then I wanted to spend time with Him!! Then I cry and wonder why my heart is hard!
So, back to Balaam... I realized the Holy Spirit kept telling me ever so quietly. Nudging me softy to shut the TV or computer off and go read the Word. Go spend time in God's face, in His presence. But like Balaam I tried to manipulate the situation to get my own way. I am blessed to still be here and not dead!!! Seriously...
I realize if I keep heading down that path death is waiting!
Thank the Lord He got my attention!
Whatever idol is in your life you must destroy it. The only way to soften our hearts is by His Word, prayer, and fasting. Whatever things of the world that are keeping you from that..it is an idol. Whatever you choose over God is an idol.
I know this is a difficult and sobering word. But we can not continue to believe that we can coast through our Christian walk, do whatever we want, and assume we are kingdom bound.
Bob Sorge wrote: Our problem is we have a convoluted concept of grace. We have come to define grace as "the tolerance of God that allows us to live with one foot in the church and one foot in the world." That's not grace, that's foolishness. Such a person is neither hot nor cold, and Jesus said "I will vomit you out of my mouth" (Revelation 3:16).
Grace is the kindness of God toward mankind, evidenced by sending His Son to die for us and redeem us to Himself, that we might be lifted from the filth of this world and live in the glory of His righteousness. God forbid that we should exploit His grace in order to return to the fiflth from which we have been redeemed.
It amazes me that even in the church most conversations I hear are about what's on TV, computer games, movies, sports, politics, ect.
We are Christians, which means we are set apart! Not of the world, redeemed from the world, from sin. But I feel like there is such a lie out there saying it's ok to be part of the world. Well, it's not! We are to be in the world but not of it.
I praise God that He has yet again given me another chance to turn from darkness. Jesus said the path is narrow and not many will find it. I praise God He has forgiven me but I also know that true repentance isn't just saying I am sorry but it is not doing that sin anymore.
In this moment of discovering His grace I started singing praise for a new day. The song, This is the day that the Lord has made came to my mind. I thought, the person who wrote this song must have fully grasped how exciting it is to have a new day. A new day to start over. His mercy is renewed every day. This is the day that the Lord has made. I WILL rejoice and be glad in it.
This morning as I spent time before the Lord I felt very convicted. I realized I too had a heart like Balaam. I have been making excuses to do what I want to do and worse...then resting on God's grace! That is so dangerous!!!
Aside from the Word I also have been reading a book called "In His Face" by Bob Sorge. In his chapter titled, In Hollywood's Face he writes, "You watch TV instead of praying because you enjoy food offered up to idols." The world practices and portrays it's idolatry on TV. You would never do the things they do on TV, because you don't serve their idols. But when you watch them do it, you are eating the food they offer to their idols.
It is very clear in the Bible that we can NOT have both the world and God. Either we choose the world or we choose God. It's very cut and dry.
The cross before me, the world behind me...no turning back! No turning back!
I realized I was so guilty of this. Not guilty of watching TV but guilty of wanting to watch a show or spend time on the computer more then I wanted to read God's Word. More then I wanted to spend time with Him!! Then I cry and wonder why my heart is hard!
So, back to Balaam... I realized the Holy Spirit kept telling me ever so quietly. Nudging me softy to shut the TV or computer off and go read the Word. Go spend time in God's face, in His presence. But like Balaam I tried to manipulate the situation to get my own way. I am blessed to still be here and not dead!!! Seriously...
I realize if I keep heading down that path death is waiting!
Thank the Lord He got my attention!
Whatever idol is in your life you must destroy it. The only way to soften our hearts is by His Word, prayer, and fasting. Whatever things of the world that are keeping you from that..it is an idol. Whatever you choose over God is an idol.
I know this is a difficult and sobering word. But we can not continue to believe that we can coast through our Christian walk, do whatever we want, and assume we are kingdom bound.
Bob Sorge wrote: Our problem is we have a convoluted concept of grace. We have come to define grace as "the tolerance of God that allows us to live with one foot in the church and one foot in the world." That's not grace, that's foolishness. Such a person is neither hot nor cold, and Jesus said "I will vomit you out of my mouth" (Revelation 3:16).
Grace is the kindness of God toward mankind, evidenced by sending His Son to die for us and redeem us to Himself, that we might be lifted from the filth of this world and live in the glory of His righteousness. God forbid that we should exploit His grace in order to return to the fiflth from which we have been redeemed.
It amazes me that even in the church most conversations I hear are about what's on TV, computer games, movies, sports, politics, ect.
We are Christians, which means we are set apart! Not of the world, redeemed from the world, from sin. But I feel like there is such a lie out there saying it's ok to be part of the world. Well, it's not! We are to be in the world but not of it.
I praise God that He has yet again given me another chance to turn from darkness. Jesus said the path is narrow and not many will find it. I praise God He has forgiven me but I also know that true repentance isn't just saying I am sorry but it is not doing that sin anymore.
In this moment of discovering His grace I started singing praise for a new day. The song, This is the day that the Lord has made came to my mind. I thought, the person who wrote this song must have fully grasped how exciting it is to have a new day. A new day to start over. His mercy is renewed every day. This is the day that the Lord has made. I WILL rejoice and be glad in it.
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
God Knows Our Heart ♥ ☺
This morning as I was praying and communing with the Lord He gave me a poem. ☺ I always love it when He gives me a poem, the words come so easily and then when it's finished He says - it's done. Oh how I love Him!!!
OH, distracted heart. Stop with your wandering eyes.
Stop focusing on what the world can give and focus on the prize.
For their is hidden treasure! If only you could see
the world and all it's pleasure can not compare to me!
OH, heart that mourns and cries out in the night
Be comforted and know, you are precious in my sight
I hold you in my arms and long for you to see
that there is no man who could love you more then me
OH, heart that is ashamed and regrets all things you've done
Know and understand that's why I sent my Son
for He has washed away all your guilt and sin
He stand outside and knocks. Now, will you let Him in?
OH, distracted heart. Stop with your wandering eyes.
Stop focusing on what the world can give and focus on the prize.
For their is hidden treasure! If only you could see
the world and all it's pleasure can not compare to me!
OH, heart that mourns and cries out in the night
Be comforted and know, you are precious in my sight
I hold you in my arms and long for you to see
that there is no man who could love you more then me
OH, heart that is ashamed and regrets all things you've done
Know and understand that's why I sent my Son
for He has washed away all your guilt and sin
He stand outside and knocks. Now, will you let Him in?
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Faith through Circumstances
As I was reading in Exodus yesterday a thought crossed my mind and it took a day to formulate. I knew the spirit was showing me something so I had to go back and read it again and meditate on it. When I woke up this morning it came to me. So here we have Moses in the hot seat. He and Aaron have told the people that God would deliver them and they worship. Then they set out to go before Pharaoh. However, things get worse for Israel. Instead of being delivered they are told to make their own straw increasing their workload. They are now being beaten and treated worse for not making their daily quota of bricks. So now Israel is like, thanks a lot Moses! You made everything worse!
I kept thinking about that yesterday. Can you imagine how Moses felt? The very thing he feared seemed to be happening. Here is Moses crying out to God and saying, "Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people? Why have you sent me?" I can imagine being Moses and having a meltdown, too. I would be thinking - I knew this would happen! You sent the wrong person!
But looking back at the burning bush God told him this would happen
But I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not even by a mighty hand. So I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My wonders which I will do in its midst; and after that he will let you go. - Exodus 3:19-20
God told Moses that Pharaoh would not let them go easily. In fact he told Moses later he would harden Pharaoh's heart. God told Moses he wanted to show ALL His wonders towards the Egyptians and AFTER that he would let them go.
Now Moses didn't have a clue what God's wonders would be but really God was saying it was going to take a while and wouldn't be easy.
When I woke up this morning meditating on this the first thing that came to mind was faith through circumstances. It's easy to believe and trust when things are going well. But God wants us to have faith and trust in the midst of the storm.Things became worse for Israel before they got better. When God makes a promise we must endure and not focus on our circumstances. Just because our situation seems to get worse for the moment does not mean that God has left us. He is always right there beside us working all things for good even when they appear to be worse.
It is so easy to get caught up in the moment of our situation and lose faith. Let us instead choose to focus on the promise and on God's mighty hand to save.
He is mighty to save!
I kept thinking about that yesterday. Can you imagine how Moses felt? The very thing he feared seemed to be happening. Here is Moses crying out to God and saying, "Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people? Why have you sent me?" I can imagine being Moses and having a meltdown, too. I would be thinking - I knew this would happen! You sent the wrong person!
But looking back at the burning bush God told him this would happen
But I am sure that the king of Egypt will not let you go, no, not even by a mighty hand. So I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My wonders which I will do in its midst; and after that he will let you go. - Exodus 3:19-20
God told Moses that Pharaoh would not let them go easily. In fact he told Moses later he would harden Pharaoh's heart. God told Moses he wanted to show ALL His wonders towards the Egyptians and AFTER that he would let them go.
Now Moses didn't have a clue what God's wonders would be but really God was saying it was going to take a while and wouldn't be easy.
When I woke up this morning meditating on this the first thing that came to mind was faith through circumstances. It's easy to believe and trust when things are going well. But God wants us to have faith and trust in the midst of the storm.Things became worse for Israel before they got better. When God makes a promise we must endure and not focus on our circumstances. Just because our situation seems to get worse for the moment does not mean that God has left us. He is always right there beside us working all things for good even when they appear to be worse.
It is so easy to get caught up in the moment of our situation and lose faith. Let us instead choose to focus on the promise and on God's mighty hand to save.
He is mighty to save!
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Excuses why we don't serve God
I can't believe it's been a little over 2 weeks since I have written anything. But I have to admit I have been struggling. However, I started Exodus this week and when I read the encounter Moses had with the Lord I started thinking about the excuses we give ourselves not to serve. When presented with the task of going to Pharoah on the Lord's behalf Moses listed 5 excuses
Excuses regarding himself
Excuses regarding education
Excuses regarding people’s reaction
Excuses regarding spiritual gifts
Excuses regarding comfort
Moses most likely reflected on the his past failure. After all he killed a man and fled. He spent 40 years taking care of sheep. That was considered to be the lowest of low jobs. His self esteem of himself was probably not very high. I can relate to that. Well, who couldn't? We have all failed and made mistakes. Even in ministry. Even when we are doing what God called us to do. It is important to always keep in mind that there are no great men of God but only men of a great God! We are all weak and unworthy. That's why it's so amazing! God's glory can shine and be seen when it's done through our frailty.
Then we see Moses speak on not really knowing who God is. Who shall I say has sent me? Moses was educated for 40 years in Egypt. He had the best teaching and education. But yet he questions who God really is. I love that God simply says - I am who I am! I will be who you need me to be. Has this been an excuse? We don't serve because we think we need more education in the Word, more time in prayer, more Christian education. I get trapped in this a lot. It makes me fall into traps of comparison. While it is very important we spend time with the Lord and in His Word. We can not excuse ourselves from serving just because we think someone else knows more. God told Moses He would give him the right words to say. When God calls us to do something we must also trust He will provide us with the right words.
Moses was afraid of what others would say about him. Again, thinking back to what the Hebrew men said to him, "Who made you a prince and a judge over us?" (Exodus 2:14)
Moses was probably thinking he would again get the same reaction and nobody would believe that God met with him. And then he looked at his weakness in speech. God had an answer for every excuse that Moses could think of. He gave him all the tools he needed and even provided him Aaron to help out.
It's so easy to be like Moses. To find excuses not to serve. To look at all our weakness, faults, past failures, and lack of ability. But none of that matters. Because it's NOT us doing it. It's God doing it through us. We only need to possess one thing. A willing heart. A heart that says - yes!
I have also been reading Gideon's story in Judges and one thing that stood out to me was how easy the people wanted to worship Gideon after the great victory. The Israelites wanted to worship Moses. We must always remember that God receives ALL the glory!!! Again, NO great men of God only men of a great God! All glory goes to Him! Let us always say yes to God, serve Him with all our heart, and point others to Him to receive all the glory.
And, no more excuses!!!!
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